Flowerwish's Heart
by poppyfrost123
Summary: Flowerwish is a young warrior and desperate for love. What will she do when her love decides he's almost ready to take a mate? Another cat stands in her way, lowering her chances of the one dream she's always had.
1. Chapter 1

**Allegiances **

**IceClan**

Leader- Robinstar, lithe tabby she-cat

Deputy- Troutclaw, stocky, brown tom

Medicine Cat- Milkdrop, white she-cat

**Warriors **

(toms or she-cats without kits)

Graywhisker, white tom with gray muzzle and paws

Hareclaw, orange-and-white tom Shortfoot, orange tom with twisted paw

Tigerfur, dark tabby she-cat, apprentice, Lilypaw

Larkfoot, black she-cat Mosslight, pretty she-cat with gray fur and blue eyes

Darkshade, black tom with dark green eyes, apprentice, Bluepaw

Shorecloud, tan she-cat with brown paws, apprentice, Oakpaw

Duststorm, brown tabby tom,

apprentice, Sunpaw

**Queens**

(she-cats expecting or nursing kits) Froststorm, white she-cat, mother of Greywhisker's kits, Flowerkit, gray and white she-kit, Snowkit, white she-kit with gray paws, Stormkit, light gray tom-kit, and Rainkit, dark gray tom-kit with black stripes

Daisyshine, tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes, expecting Darkshade's kits

**Apprentices**

( more than six moons old, training to become warriors)

Bluepaw, dark blue-gray tom with blue eyes

Lilypaw, dark black she-cat

Sunpaw, bright yellow tom

Oakpaw, light gray tom with amber eyes

**Elders **( former warriors or queens, now retired)

Greenstem, yellow tom with green eyes

Mousefoot, dark brown she-cat

**StormClan**

Leader- Tawnystar, yellow she-cat with green eyes

Deputy- Darkfrost, black tom with gray paws

Medicine Cat- Blossomtail, tortoiseshell she-cat

**Warriors**

Echodrop, silver she-cat with blue eyes,

Apprentice, Birchpaw, grey tom

Quailheart, brown she-cat

Whiteblossom, white she-cat with green eyes,

Apprentice, Cherrypaw, cream she-cat

Lionfoot, golden-brown tom

Kestrelfur, tabby tom

Rabbitfoot, pretty tabby she-cat

**Queens**

Brackenstem, brown she-cat with pretty blue eyes, mother of Kestrelfur's kits, Dustkit, brown tom-kit, and Applekit, tabby she-kit

Violetmist, pretty grey she-cat with green eyes, pregnant with Darkfrost's kits

**Elders**

Mistwhisker, jet black she-cat

Larkfur, yellow she-cat

Stumptail, brown tom

**DarkClan**

Leader- Ferretstar, tabby she-cat with blue eyes

Deputy- Inkshadow, black tom with amber eyes

Medicine Cat- Hollyfur, dark grey she-cat with green eyes.

**Warriors**

Hazecloud, gray tom with black paws

Streamfoot, tabby she-cat

Willowheart, tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes

Volefur, brown tom with amber eyes,

Apprentice, Jetpaw, black tom

Lichenpelt, dark gray she-cat

Eeltooth, black tom

Fernstorm, gray tabby she-cat,

Apprentice, Riverpaw, silver she-cat

**Queens**

Cherryblossom, cream she-cat with brown ears, pregnant with Hazecloud's kits.

Heathercloud, dark gray tabby she-cat, mother of Volefur's kits, Lilykit, gray she-kit, Jaykit, silver tom-kit, and Brackenkit, brown she-kit.

**Elders**

Grayfoot, silver she-cat

Toadfur, brown tabby tom

**GustClan**

Leader- Briarstar, brown she-cat

Deputy- Cloverpelt, tabby she-cat with gray eyes

Medicine Cat- Hazelwhisker, brown tom with darker stripes.

**Warriors**

Leafdrop, pretty tabby she-cat,

Apprentice, Sweetpaw, silver she-cat with blue eyes

Honeyfall, ginger she-cat with green eyes

Cragfur, gray tom with black paws,

Apprentice, Bumblepaw, black tom

Pearwhisker, tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes

Windwillow, tortoiseshell she-cat with blue eyes, Apprentice, Flypaw, tabby tom

Whitepelt, white tom

Sagewhisker, gray tom with darker stripes

Mousestorm, brown tabby tom

**Queens**

Flowersnap, pretty ginger she-cat, mother of Whitepelt's kits, Runningkit, tabby tom-kit, and Cloudkit, white tom-kit with green eyes.

Softfur, gray she-cat, expecting Cragfur's kits.

Berryfern, cream she-cat, mother of Sagewhisker's kits, Dovekit, gray she-kit, and Flashkit, cream she-kit.

Ivyfur, pretty silver she-cat with gray paws, pregnant with Mousestorm's kits

**Elders**

Featherfur, gray she cat

Barkwhisker, brown tom with green eyes

* * *

**Chapter One**

_Flowerkit blinked at_ the harsh sunlight that entered the nursery. She had never seen this type of light before, in fact this was the first time she had ever seen anything. She looked over and saw small heaps of white and grey. Her littermates still hadn't opened their eyes! She felt a small rush of pride that she had been the first one. She glanced one more at the bright sunbeam and began to make out other cats outside the nursery.

"Flowerkit," her mother called, "Stop wriggling," Froststorm was washing her brothers and sister and couldn't reach Flowerkit.

She looked closely at her mother. Her mother was a small white cat, while Flowerkit was a grey-and-white she-kit. _How did the grey get there? _she wondered. Her thoughts were interrupted by a shadow casting over the entrance. A beautiful tortoiseshell she-cat was pushing herself into the nursery. Her belly was huge!

"Greetings, Daisyshine," Froststorm meowed. Daisyshine nodded a greeting and began to groom Snowkit's pretty white fur, who was Flowerkit's sister.

The rest of the litter, Rainkit and Stormkit, both toms, were beginning to open their eyes, while Snowkit's were still tightly closed. All Flowerkit wanted was to explore outside, but Snowkit was making that impossible.

"Snowkit!" Flowerkit whispered, " Hurry up and open your eyes! We want to go out of the nursery!" Snowkit let out a whimper and slowly pried her eyes open.

Flowerkit let out a cry of triumph and made her way with her littermates, toward the entrance. The harsh sunlight hit her again, but she didn't care. She was outside, after a long wait. Rainkit ran ahead of her towards a reed thicket with an entrance to it. A handsome grey tom, bigger than all four of them walked out and stretched. Flowerkit gasped and went toward him.

"Hi, I'm Flowerkit, what's your name?" she asked boldly. He looked surprised and then answered, "My name is Bluepaw,"

_Wow, I think I'm in love, _Flowerkit thought dreamily. She then shook herself, _don't be so silly, _she rebuked herself, _you barely know him. _The thicket shook again and out came a black she-cat. The she-cat had hard cold eyes and went to touch noses with Bluepaw. He purred back at her. _Do they like each other?_ Flowerkit wondered.

"Flowerkit, this is Lilypaw," Bluepaw told her. Flowerkit nodded at Lilypaw, like she'd seen Daisyshine do. Flowerkit suddenly realized that her littermates had gone off to explore without her. _Fine, _she thought, _if they want to explore without me, let them. _

"Bluepaw, will you show me around the camp? I don't know where to start," she meowed innocently. He nodded and gestured for her to follow him. Lilypaw looked outraged that Bluepaw wasn't spending time with her, as Flowerkit happily noticed.

"This is the elder's den," he meowed. "The leader's den is over there and the warrior's and medicine cat's den is on either side," he told her. "There, tour's over," he finished.

Flowerkit turned disappointed. _I bet Stormkit got to explore more, _she thought mutinously. She watched Bluepaw trod to the freshkill pile, grab a mouse and return to the apprentice clearing. She sighed and went back to the nursery. She saw Snowkit outside and went over to her.

"I really like Bluepaw, " Flowerkit mewed. She rolled over on her back, rubbing her shoulders on the dust.

"I know," Snowkit meowed softly, "I really like Sunpaw,"

Flowerkit straightened up quickly. "Who?" She asked.

"Sunpaw. He's Lilypaw's brother," Snowkit replied.

At the sound of Lilypaw, Flowerkit tensed. The black she-cat really got on Flowerkit's nerves. She opened her mouth, ready to say something, but Stormkit bundled out of the nursery, with Rainkit chasing him. They stopped as they saw movement come out of the leader's den. A small head poked out. The camp grew silent as a she-cat worked her way through the reeds that encircled her den.

"Who is that?" Flowerkit asked. Her littermates must have felt awe for the other she-cat, as they didn't respond.

"That is our leader, Robinstar," Froststorm replied. Flowerkit whipped around in surprise. Robinstar was such a small cat, it didn't seem possible for her to be the leader. _I want to be leader, too,_ Flowerkit thought.

A big white tom came out of the warriors den and Froststorm purred with happiness.

"Kits, this is your father, Graywhisker," She told them, still purring.

Flowerkit bounced up to meet him, with her siblings following. She delicately sat down in front of him, silently begging him to look at her. Greywhisker, she noticed had a grey muzzle.

"Mother," she asked, " Am I grey because of him?"

Froststorm purred and blinked at Graywhisker. She nodded and Flowerkit was content. Stormkit jumped on Greywhisker, with Rainkit right after him. Greywhisker purred and with the brothers on his back, began to walk, swaying across the clearing. Froststorm watched the trio happily. Another tom came out of the warrior's den, frowning.

"Graywhisker, what are you doing? You have a patrol waiting on you!" The tom yowled.

Graywhisker reluctantly slide the two kits off of him.

"Sorry, kits, I have to go," he told them.

Stormkit marched over to his mother.

"Who was that awful tom that sent Father away?" He demanded.

She responded, "That is the deputy of the Clan, Troutclaw. We must respect him,"

Flowerkit watched Graywhisker lead the patrol out of the camp.

"Mother, where is he going?" Flowerkit asked.

"He is leading a hunting patrol to provide food for the Clan," she told them. "Kits, why don't you go see the elders? They can tell you all sorts of stories."

Snowkit dashed over to the elder's den, with Flowerkit right on her tail. The elder's den was a fallen tree with moss draped over it. Flowerkit looked around and could see an opening where they could get in. She slid her body through the crack.

"Ah, these must be our newest kits," a creaky voice meowed.

Once her eyes got used to the dim light, she could make out three shapes. Two were old cats, one a yellow tom with green eyes and the other a dark brown she-cat, the one who spoke. The remaining cat was much smaller than the two elders. It was Bluepaw! He seemed to be changing the elders' bedding.

"Would you please tell us a story?" Flowerkit begged. She saw Bluepaw prick his ears when the yellow tom nodded.

"I will tell you about when I was just an apprentice. It was greenleaf and I was sent to hunt down a rabbit. Imagine a rabbit in IceClan's territory!"

Snowkit interrupted, "Why is that so odd?" She asked.

"Silly kit," he scolded, "IceClan are the hunters of fish, not rabbit. Anyways, _I was hunting in the cool breeze by the river. Sometimes rabbits would cross over from the moorland to get a drink. In the corner of my eyes, I saw a brown shape flash. I slowly turned around to see a hare. My mentor had warned me against hunting hares, since they were big and fierce. Their claws could blind a cat and they had. I got into the hunter's crouch and creeped closer to the hare. This hare could feed the Clan for days. Once I was about a foxtail away from the hare, I pounced. I landed dead-on the hare, but the killing bite wasn't so easy. The hare struggled and struggled but I_—"

The other elder interrupted. "Greenstem, finish your story tomorrow. These two kits must be hungry. Bluepaw, you can be done for the day. You can do ticks tomorrow."

Greenstem nodded. "Yes, Mousefoot, O mighty leader,"

Mousefoot rolled her eyes and then turned to the kits.

"Please, tell me your names," she inquired.

Flowerkit nodded, "I'm Flowerkit and this is my sister, Snowkit," she mewed.

Mousefoot blinked and then sent the two kits on their way with Bluepaw following them.

"Bluepaw, what is the 'hunter's crouch' that Greenstem mentioned?" Flowerkit asked.

He responded, "Here let me show you,"

Flowerkit agreed excitedly. He crouched in front of her.

"Done," Bluepaw meowed.

Snowkit let out a _mrrow _of laughter at Flowerkit's disappointment. They raced to the nursery to find Froststorm, Rainkit, and Stormkit sleeping. The beautiful white she-cat's flanks were rising and falling, reminding Flowerkit of how hungry she was. Flowerkit turned and saw Bluepaw heading towards the apprentice's den. The dark blue-gray touched noses with Lilypaw. Flowerkit narrowed her eyes at the sight of the black she-cat. Bluepaw blinked his beautiful blue eyes at her and Flowerkit felt a rush of jealousy. She watched them walk to the freshkill pile together. _I wonder what the apprentice den looks like inside_, she thought. Using Bluepaw's crouch, she crept over to the reed thicket. She froze as Bluepaw turned around, and then relaxed as he turned back to Lilypaw. Flowerkit peered inside and could make out nests. _When I'm an apprentice, my nest will be right in the middle. _

"You still have six more moons,"

A deep voice made her spin around. A yellow tom, probably an apprentice, judging his size, was standing right in front of her.

"You're quite adventurous for your age," he purred.

"Are you Sunpaw?" Flowerkit asked.

He nodded. "I'm Lilypaw's brother," he meowed.

Flowerkit shuddered, "I know,"

He looked at her closely. "Have you eaten today?"

She shook her head no.

"Here, let me take you back to the nursery. You must be famished," he meowed.

The gray she-kit obliged and followed him towards her mother. She could tell why Snowkit liked him. He was very friendly and kind. If only his sister was like that.

"Thank you for taking me," Flowerkit mewed.

Sunpaw nodded and trotted back to the apprentice den, where a light gray tom was waiting for him. She watched the two toms wrestle playfully. She laughed and entered the nursery. Froststorm was nursing Snowkit and Flowerkit snuggled next to her sister.

Outside, the patrols were starting to come back. She jumped up, looking for her father. She glanced at her mother, who was doing the same thing. Snowkit was still feeding, unaware of the patrol's return. Flowerkit saw a white coat talking to Robinstar. It was her father! Robinstar dismissed him, and he made his way to the freshkill pile, along with other warriors. Froststorm detangled Snowkit from her and made her way out of the nursery. The two mates touched noses delicately, and settled down next to a trout.

_Greenstem was right_, Flowerkit reflected, _IceClan eat a lot of fish. _She saw Bluepaw coming to join the feast, with the light gray tom from before. She noticed that while the gray tom selected a pike, Bluepaw didn't eat anything.

_I can't wait until I'm an apprentice!_ The gray-and-white she-kit wiggled excitedly as she imagined becoming warrior, then deputy, then leader. _I want to be the greatest warrior the Clans have ever seen. _

She trotted up to Bluepaw and the other apprentice. "Is it hard to become a warrior?" She asked.

The other tom snorted and replied, "Are you kidding me? It's the hardest thing you'll ever do,"

Bluepaw rolled his eyes, "Oakpaw, you're forgetting about battles, clearing out dens, and_ checking for ticks!"_ He fell to the ground dramatically.

Oakpaw twitched his whiskers amusedly. "Right, those are definitely top three," he purred.

Bluepaw purred loudly. "Oakpaw, this is Flowerkit. Flowerkit, this is my brother, Oakpaw,"

"Pleased to meet you," Oakpaw meowed, still purring.

Flowerkit nodded. She watched the two toms talk about training, mentors, and she-cats. She noticed sadly that Bluepaw seemed smitten with Lilypaw.

Oakpaw rolled his eyes at the repeating mention of the black she-cat.

"I don't know why you're so obsessed with her. She's stuck-up, annoying, and obsessed more with herself,"

Flowerkit held her breath, trying desperately not to laugh at Oakpaw's truthful comment.

Bluepaw narrowed his eyes. "You're just jealous that I have a she-cat that likes me and you don't,"

Oakpaw rolled his eyes again, and turned to make a bite of the pike. Bluepaw shifted his dark blue-gray paws again.  
"Look, I didn't mean it like that," he mewed.

"Whatever," Oakpaw meowed.

Flowerkit had the feeling that she should leave, but Bluepaw turned towards her.

"Flowerkit, don't repeat any of this, okay?"

She nodded, and wished that there was something more that he would say. She walked back to Snowkit, who was chasing Stormkit.

"You're the hunter now!" Snowkit yowled as she caught Stormkit.

Stormkit crouched and let out a massive leap after Snowkit. Narrowly missing her, Snowkit looked triumphant dashing away. Froststorm turned, hearing her kits play, and looked amused watching them play 'hunter-and-fish'. Flowerkit looked around and found Rainkit dozing in what was left of the weak sunshine. She watched his dark gray flank rise and fall before pouncing on him and pinning his whiskers to the ground.

"Got you now!" Flowerkit meowed excitedly.

Rainkit grunted and sat up, "I'm going to get you!"

He wrestled her to the ground in a flurry of excitement. She lay limp, and then when he relaxed, shot up to attack him.

"Nice move, Flowerkit," a voice called.

She turned and saw Bluepaw watching the tussle. Rainkit took advantage of the distraction and jumped on her.

"You sneaky little fish-face," she mewed angrily.

Rainkit meowed with satisfaction. A flash of white caught Flowerkit's eyes. Snowkit had joined in on the fight, with Stormkit just behind her. All four kits were tussling on the ground. A warrior came up to Graywhisker.

"Even at such a young age, your kits are taking after their father,"

"Thank you, Hareclaw," Graywhisker purred.

Even Robinstar was watching the fight. It was something to watch, with the heat of greenleaf making every cat quite lazy.

The kittens finally broke up the fight, with the she-kits winning. Flowerkit looked back at Bluepaw, to see if he saw her accomplishment. He hadn't looked back again, and was now talking with Sunpaw. The two toms were having a heated discussion most likely about who had to get up the earliest for patrols. She had heard the word 'dawn patrol' many times and had soon come to the realization that it was nothing good. Flowerkit overheard Sunpaw talking about 'hunting patrols'. The yellow tom seemed to like those the best. She felt a shadow crawl over her back and yawned. She looked up to see that the sun was setting and Froststorm called the kits to bed.

* * *

**P.S. check out my new poll in my profile (contains slight spoilers, just new characters and names) ;) also, hope you like the story so far and thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

_By the power of StarClan, you are now the new deputy of IceClan! _Flowerkit jolted awake. A harsh meowing was coming from the camp. She peered out and saw Robinstar talking to Troutclaw. They seemed to be arguing over some unimportant detail.

" Why shouldn't we increase the patrols? We have evidence that StormClan is hunting on our land," snapped Troutclaw.

"We don't want more violence. More patrols will only aggravate StormClan. As leader, my word is law and you will do what I say," Robinstar replied powerfully.

Troutclaw lowered his head, but Flowerkit could still see anger smoldering in his eyes. She shuddered. Surely he wouldn't do anything to harm the Clan?

She looked around in the nursery. Three more kits were added, as Daisyshine had kitted Bluekit, Poolkit, and Petalkit. Flowerkit could tell that Froststorm was ready to become a warrior again, as the white queen was often leaving for hunting patrols. Several nights she had taken to sleeping in the warriors den with Graywhisker. Flowerkit would have to agree with her mother, six moons stuck doing nothing would be terrible, but lucky for her, the kits could be apprentices any day. Flowerkit woke up Snowkit, and they snuck out of the nursery.

"Come on, let's go look in the warrior's den," Flowerkit whispered. _I want to see who my mentor is going to be_, she thought happily. They crept to a hole in the reed wall and saw shapes of cats dozing before patrols.

"I want to have Mosslight as my mentor," Flowerkit mewed.

"I think I would like Larkfoot or maybe Hareclaw," Snowkit replied.

"I want Robinstar, too," Flowerkit whispered boldly.

"Robinstar? Is that even allowed? I thought she only trained deputy's kits," Snowkit gasped.

"Well, maybe. Graywhisker is a senior warrior," Flowerkit shot back.

"Let all cats old enough to swim meet together under the Ice Tree,"

The two kits heard the command from Robinstar and their fur bristled excitedly.

"Come on, let's go!" Flowerkit yowled.

"But we can't swi" — Flowerkit raced to the Ice Tree and sat next to Froststorm.

"We have four apprentices that have completed their training," Robinstar meowed. "Bluepaw, Oakpaw, Sunpaw, and Lilypaw have passed their assessment and proved themselves to become warriors of IceClan. Darkshade, Shorecloud, Duststorm, and Tigerfur" All of the mentors stepped up, "have your apprentices learned what they need to know and proved worthy to be full warriors of IceClan?" All four mentors nodded yes. "Very well. Bluepaw, from this moment on you shall be known as Bluestorm. StarClan honors your strength and your bravery and we welcome you as a full member of IceClan.

Oakpaw, you too have proved yourself. From this moment on you shall be known as Oakshade. StarClan honors your spirit and courage. We welcome you as a full member of IceClan,"

The ceremony went on with Lilypaw and Sunpaw. Lilypaw became Lilyfall and Sunpaw, Sunleap. Flowerkit was a bit disappointed that she would never train with Bluestorm, but he might become her mentor. The Clan feasted with the newly caught fish that the new warriors caught on their assessment. The chill of leaf fall was upon them and Flowerkit doubted that the warriors would share tongues for long. How would Bluestorm ever notice her? She still held on to the hope that she might be his apprentice, but it wasn't likely. He would still be a new warrior, and there were more experienced warriors in the Clan. As the night went on, Flowerkit watched the four new warriors begin their silent vigil. She saw Lilyfall settle down next to Bluestorm. Luckily, the warriors weren't allowed to speak but, Flowerkit couldn't stand her being so close to Bluestorm.

* * *

The sun rose to begin the new day. Flowerkit was excited because every day was one day closer to her becoming an apprentice. Sunleap had taught her and Snowkit hunting and battle moves and Flowerkit was ready to impress her new mentor. She still wanted Robinstar, and Robinstar had been hinting about a new apprentice. Flowerkit had overheard her parents talking about it.

"I can't wait to go to gatherings," Snowkit squealed.

"How did you know what I was thinking?" Flowerkit gasped.

Snowkit just purred and jumped on Flowerkit.

"Bet you can't catch me!" Rainkit was running circles around the two she-kits. Snowkit and Flowerkit exchanged glances and ran at him.

"I want to be an apprentice already!" Stormkit pouted.

"Me, too," Rainkit sighed.

"Maybe we can get Graywhisker to take us out of the camp," Flowerkit suggested excitedly.

All four kits raced to the warriors den and peered inside to try and spot their father.

The nest where he slept was empty. The kits sighed with disappointment.

"Who wants to share a trout?" Snowkit asked.

Flowerkit followed her to the freshkill pile. She could see Bluestorm eating a pike and went to sit beside him.

"Hi, Bluestorm," she mewed.

He grunted in reply and she walked back to Snowkit, who was waiting with the fish. Snowkit twitched her whiskers, amused.

"DarkClan! DarkClan are invading!" Troutclaw yowled.

The Clan was sent into a state of panic. Troutclaw tried to calm the queens down, but they were frantic. Flowerkit saw a flash of brown. Robinstar was in the camp.

"Graywhisker, Darkshade, get the queens and kits into the nursery and guard there, in case DarkClan invades the camp. Troutclaw, gather four battle patrols. Larkfoot, guard the elder's den," Robinstar ordered.

The warriors nodded and began to carry out the orders. Snowkit and Flowerkit were herded into the nursery, along with their brothers.

"I want to see the battle." Flowerkit heard Rainkit's complaint.

"Be quiet," Froststorm hushed him.

Outside of the camp, Flowerkit could hear yowls and screeches. She shuddered and drew closer to her mother. Froststorm licked her ear and comforted her. Flowerkit looked outside and saw Graywhisker pacing by the entrance. _I bet he wants to be fighting_, she thought. Who would want to be stuck in camp instead of in a battle? Petalkit mewled in fright as another scream sounded outside of the camp. Flowerkit saw Stormkit whisper something to Petalkit and the young kit relaxed. Flowerkit was shocked to see her brother's soft side, as he hardly ever showed it.

* * *

The moon was rising when the battle patrols finally came back to camp. They looked weary and battered with blood plastered to their flanks, and the medicine cat, Milkdrop, rushed to meet them. Robinstar had a huge belly wound and blood was gushing out of it. Milkdrop guided her to the medicine den, with Graywhisker on her tail. Heartbeats later, Graywhisker walked out, a mixture of shock and fear in his eyes.

"She lost a life," he breathed to Froststorm.

"Then she's on her last," Froststorm gasped.

Graywhisker nodded grimly and went to meet with the other senior warriors. Flowerkit yawned and snuggled next to her mother and quickly fell asleep.

Dawn's pink sky with the orange sun against it, was a sight to see. Flowerkit and Snowkit admired the beautiful scene.

"Maybe we'll be apprentices by the end of today," Snowkit mewed hopefully.

Flowerkit snorted doubtfully. "We've been six moons old for half a moon and she still hasn't made us apprentices, and she got terribly hurt last night. Trust me, she won't do it today,"

Snowkit turned her back on her sister. Flowerkit rolled her eyes and trotted to Stormkit, who was playing with a dead leaf. Stormkit abandoned his leaf and swiped his paw at his sister. She dodged the blow and counterattacked him.

"Ugh," he moaned," being stuck in camp is so boring. I wish we could be out in the forest."

"Yes, I bet there are plenty of dead leaves you could play with there," Flowerkit mewed mischievously.

He crouched, waggled his haunches, and pounced on her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mother exiting the nursery. She stopped fighting and sat up straight. Stormkit stopped and looked at her confusedly. She cast a sharp glance at their mother and he nodded and copied her. The two troublesome gray kits were sitting so angelically that Froststorm burst out laughing.

"Kits, what did you do?" She asked suspiciously.

The two kits glanced at each other innocently and responded, "Nothing,"

Froststorm let out a _mrrow_ of laughter.

"Mother, when will we be apprentices?" Flowerkit asked.

"You were supposed to be apprentices yesterday, but the battle suspended that. I don't suppose Robinstar has made up her mind," Froststorm responded.

Flowerkit groaned impatiently. "Hasn't Milkdrop healed Robinstar yet? I thought that since Robinstar lost a life, she would be healed."

"The wound that killed her is closed up, but she still has other injuries," Froststorm answered.

Flowerkit nodded and went back to Snowkit, who was grooming her white fur outside of the nursery.

"Froststorm said that we would have been apprentices yesterday," Flowerkit complained.

Snowkit moaned. "That's not fair."

Flowerkit nodded. "Imagine, we could be training right now!"

That just made Snowkit even more miserable. She flopped down on the ground, getting dust on her clean pelt. Dust flew up as Petalkit, Bluekit, and Poolkit raced out of the nursery, completely covering Snowkit even more. She looked up at Flowerkit, her snow-white fur turned to brown. Flowerkit had to suppress a _mrrow_ of laughter. The sisters looked up as they saw movement from Robinstar's den. Robinstar limped out, with poultices sticking to her flank. The she-kits exchanged a glance of excitement and hope.

"Snowkit! Your fur," Flowerkit hissed.

Snowkit vigorously licked her fur to make it white again. Noticing that Flowerkit's pelt was dirty, too, she gave it a quick grooming.

"Let all cats old enough to swim meet below the Ice Tree," meowed Robinstar.

Snowkit and Flowerkit rushed back to their mother, who's eyes were glimmering with hope. Graywhisker was sitting next to her, with the same look in his blue eyes. Rainkit and Stormkit were neatly groomed and sitting up straight.

"We have new apprentices with us today. Stormkit, Rainkit, Flowerkit, and Snowkit have been with us for six moons, and they are ready to star their training. Today, you will learn to become a warrior for your Clan. I will mentor one of these kits, my health willing."

At that, Flowerkit was excited. _Maybe I will be trained by the great Robinstar_, she thought.

"Stormkit," Robinstar meowed. "From this day forward, you shall be known as Stormpaw. I will mentor you and pass on my knowledge."

Flowerkit felt a flash of disappointment.

"Rainkit," Robinstar called. "From know on, you shall be called Rainpaw. Hareclaw, you shall mentor him. Hareclaw is a wise and experienced warrior and he will teach you everything you need to know."

Rainpaw excitedly touched noses with his new mentor.

"Flowerkit." The gray-and-white she-kit stepped into the circle.

"From now on you shall be known as Flowerpaw," decreed Robinstar.

"Your mentor shall be Mosslight."

_Yes! _Flowerpaw celebrated.

"Mosslight will teach you well," Robinstar continued.

Mosslight, a pretty gray she-cat, touched noses with Flowerpaw. Flowerpaw's fur bristled with excitement as she imagined all of the adventures she would go on. The ceremony continued with Snowkit, now Snowpaw, but Flowerpaw was too busy imagining training and fighting against DarkClan. She looked up and saw Snowpaw touching noses with Shorecloud, who was without an apprentice when Oakshade became a warrior.

"Stormpaw! Rainpaw! Flowerpaw! Snowpaw!" The Clan cheered for the new apprentices. Flowerpaw looked over at her parents, and saw their eyes filled with pride. Stormpaw trotted over to his mentor, who was waiting for him.

She shook off the jealously and bounced over to her new mentor.

"Can we go out of the camp now?" Flowerpaw looked at Mosslight pleadingly.

Mosslight looked at the other mentors and when they gave no objection, she nodded.

Flowerpaw squealed and chased Snowpaw out of the camp. Snowpaw doubled back and crashed into Flowerpaw.

_Oh no! What will Mosslight think of me now? _Flowerpaw glanced at Snowpaw and the white she-cat's eyes reflected her thoughts.

Mosslight and Shorecloud were talking together and Robinstar was discussing something with Hareclaw, and they paid no attention to the apprentices' fumble. Flowerpaw breathed a sigh of relief.

"This is the river that encircles our territory," Mosslight called as they reached the murky water.

"You will learn to swim even the fastest currents," Robinstar mewed.

Flowerpaw stood in shock at the river, she had seen puddles and streams in camp, but never anything like this. Rainpaw darted forward and pawed at the water. He jumped back in surprise at the icy-cold touch, and bumped into a tree. Hareclaw let out a _mrrow _of laughter. Rainpaw looked back, embarrassed. Shorecloud led the way to a fallen tree.

"This is where we hunt land animals, when the river freezes over," she meowed.

The sun was beginning to set, and Flowerpaw let out a yawn. Mosslight noticed and began to lead the patrol back home.

"Snowpaw," Shorecloud meowed, "Tomorrow, bright and early. We have the dawn patrol."

Snowpaw nodded miserably and Flowerpaw suppressed a _mrrow_ of laughter. The cats walked back to camp and she let out a sigh of contentment. They were finally apprentices!


	3. Chapter 3

_Flowerpaw dreamt. She_ was in a bright, starry forest. Two cats were walking towards her. A tom, with the same colorings as Froststorm, approached her. The other cat stayed behind.

"I am Icestar," he meowed.

Flowerpaw gasped. He must have been the creator of IceClan! She had heard Greenstem and Mousefoot talking about him in stories.

He went on, "You are a descendant of me, and a descendant of you will change the Clans. Your kit will break the code in several ways, and your mate, who will have the greatest power of all, will do nothing to stop it! Your kit's kit will ruin the Clans!"

She shuddered. After all, she was only an apprentice and this legendary cat was talking about her future. A vision appeared in the forest. Icestar and Flowerpaw saw a gray cat meeting with a cream she-cat in secret. The she-cat smelled of an unfamiliar smell, and Flowerpaw knew she was from another Clan.

Another vision appeared. A grown cat that looked like Poolkit was meeting with a cat from IceClan. Why was that so bad? Was this dream a sign that Flowerpaw should become a medicine cat? That made no sense either. Medicine cats were forbidden from having a mate and kits.

Icestar was still standing there with a look of horror on his face. He was shaking his white head.

"Icestar, what can I do to stop this?" she asked.

"This is already written in stone," he replied sadly.

She nodded.

"It must be time for you to wake up," Icestar mewed gently.

She nodded again and disappeared into the waking world. After she left, the starry forest turned into a dark, murky swamp. Icestar's white pelt turned into black and the second cat finally spoke.

"Darkstar, this must be your greatest plan. No cat can compare to you," he whimpered fearfully.

"Shut up, Sparrowfoot!" Darkstar lashed out at the frightened tom.

Sparrowfoot flinched and retreated into the darkness with a yelp of fear. Darkstar's cruel, menacing eyes disappeared as daylight flooded the shadowy forest.

* * *

Flowerpaw woke up with a start. _That was some dream!_ she thought. _StarClan has never came to me before._

She shook her self and exited the apprentice den. Mosslight was waiting for her when she walked out, with her tail twitching in annoyance.

"What do you think you are? A dormouse?" asked Mosslight scathingly.

Flowerpaw scuffled her paws on the ground in embarrassment.

"Come on," Mosslight mewed more gently, "We have a hunting patrol."

The patrol was waiting for them. Flowerpaw noticed happily that Bluestorm was on it and Lilyfall was not. Mosslight led the patrol and Flowerpaw, Bluestorm, and Oakshade followed her. Flowerpaw walked next to Bluestorm but he barely even noticed her.

"So, Bluestorm, how is life as a warrior?" Flowerpaw tried to strike up conversation.

"It's great," he responded warmly.

She nodded. "Is it better than being an apprentice?"

"Definitely. No more ticks or cleaning out the nursery," he meowed with a sigh of relief.

She let out a _mrrow_ of laughter. "I bet."

"Less talking, more walking please," Mosslight called from in front.

Flowerpaw rolled her eyes and was rewarded with a suppressed _mrrow _of laughter from Bluestorm. Oakshade caught up to them.

"How are the two lovebirds?" Oakshade asked teasingly.

Flowerpaw looked down at her paws, embarrassed, while Bluestorm swiped his brother on the ear.

"Not funny," he warned him.

Oakshade just shrugged it off and continued giving them a hard time.

Mosslight hissed, "Do I have to say it again? You're scaring off all of the prey."

Oakshade lowered his head, but Flowerpaw could see laughter bubbling in his eyes. After all, Mosslight was his mother. Mosslight kept on walking towards the river. Flowerpaw could see the murky river up ahead. Oakshade bounded towards the shallower part of the river, Flowerpaw could see minnows flickering back and forth. Mosslight continued on to the deeper part, where bigger fish swim. Bluestorm crouched by the edge with a paw ready to strike. Flowerpaw gazed at him admirably, as he caught a trout. Water flew as he scooped it up onto shore.

"Good job, Bluestorm," Mosslight called.

Bluestorm nodded his thanks and returned to his pose. Flowerpaw huddled next to him, watching how he hunted.

"Flowerpaw, what you want to do," he meowed, "Is not let your shadow fall over the water."

Flowerpaw looked into the water, and was ashamed to see her shadow.

He continued, "That will scare off the fish. Now, extend your paw, without letting it fall over the water, and wait until you see a fish."

Flowerpaw nodded and followed his instructions. She saw a small flicker and flashed out her paw. Water splattered and revealed a clump of moss.

"Hey, at least you caught something," laughed Oakshade.

Bluestorm let out a _mrrow_ of laughter. Flowerpaw felt heat rise up as she looked at her great catch. Mosslight crouched down and her paw darted out. She was struggling with a huge fish, the biggest Flowerpaw had ever seen. Mosslight heaved it up with a grunt, and nipped it on the spine.

"Nice catch, Mosslight," Oakshade called to his mother.

"Oakshade, as soon as you catch something, we can head home," she replied.

Oakshade nodded and crouched a foxlength away from them. He quickly snapped up a couple of minnows, but Flowerpaw wasn't content catching nothing.

"Please, Mosslight, can I stay and try to catch something?" she begged her mentor.

Mosslight nodded. "Alright, providing that someone stays with you."

Oakshade quickly caught up to his mother, leaving just Bluestorm. Bluestorm heaved a sigh and huddled next to Flowerpaw. Flowerpaw's tail curled up.

"Thank you!" she mewed.

Bluestorm just sat there. Flowerpaw crouched down, like he had showed her, and began to wait.

"What was your first catch as an apprentice?" she asked.

"I'm not sure, but I think it was a trout," he replied. "Do we have to stay out this long? Oakshade will tease me even more."  
"Why does that bother you?" she asked, narrowly missing a shadow in the water. She hissed angrily at the shape and then turned back to the blue-gray tom.

He just shrugged. She rolled her eyes at his answer.

"Is it because of Lilyfall?" she asked.

He nodded sharply. "He doesn't like her and I can't understand why! I think she is a very nice cat, but as for him…" he trailed off.

"Maybe she shows a different side to you," Flowerpaw mewed softly.

He nodded again. "Yeah, that would make sense, but I don't want to believe that. I really do like her."

Her heart ached to hear him talk about Lilyfall like this. The black she-cat didn't deserve him.

"Are you going to the gathering tomorrow?" Flowerpaw changed the subject.

"Yes, are you?" he asked.

She nodded. "Surely Mosslight will take me."

"You are a very confident cat," he laughed.

Flowerpaw just purred. She flashed out her paw again and two minnows plopped out.

"My first catch!" she purred even more.

"Congratulations!" Bluestorm meowed happily.

By the time they headed back to camp, the sun had already set.

"I'm glad I stayed back," he mewed.

_Me too_, she thought.

Flowerpaw wished him goodnight and joined her littermates at the freshkill pile.

"Ooh, look who's in love," Rainpaw teased.

"Shut up, stupid furball." She swiped a paw at him.

"When are you guys going to have kits?" Stormpaw joined in.

"Stop it, Stormpaw, every cat knows you like Petalkit," Snowpaw defended her sister.

Flowerpaw shot a grateful look at the white she-cat. Stormpaw glared at her, but became quiet.

"Shorecloud told me that we're all practicing battle moves together tomorrow!" Snowpaw squealed.

A flash of excitement rushed through Flowerpaw. She could finally defend her Clan against notorious DarkClan! She got up and grabbed a trout from the pile.

"This calls for a feast!" she meowed and the littermates devoured the fish in heartbeats.

* * *

Flowerpaw woke up early before the next day. She saw the dawn patrol stumbling out of their dens and praised StarClan that she wasn't on the patrol. Lilyfall was in the rear of the patrol and shot a glare at Flowerpaw. Flowerpaw glared back. She wasn't going to let Lilyfall intimidate her.

"Are you ready for training?" Snowpaw mewed.

Flowerpaw nodded excitedly. She couldn't wait! All of the moves that she had practiced as an apprentice would finally be put to use and she could serve her Clan.

"I wish Mosslight would wake up already," she meowed.

A dry cough sounded from behind her. Flowerpaw spun around and Mosslight was standing right behind her.

"Perhaps the elders could teach you some respect. I mean, if you don't shape up your attitude, you will be seeing their ticks," came the sarcastic reply.

"Sorry, Mosslight," Flowerpaw mewed sheepishly.

Mosslight nodded. "Go wake up your brothers," she ordered.

Flowerpaw quickly obeyed and shook the entrance to the apprentice den. A few heartbeats later, two stumbling objects appeared. Stormpaw yawned and blinked heavily.

"It's too early," he moaned.

"It's halfway to sunhigh," Shorecloud rebuked him. "Robinstar was busy, so Oakshade will be filling in for her," she continued.

The cats walked to the training hollow, with bitter wind chilling them to the bone. Snowpaw shivered as the breeze hit her in the face. Oakshade's usually happy face was looking miserable, but Flowerpaw was determined to make it through training without a complaint.

The cats reached the training grounds. Flowerpaw looked around admirably; the space was huge and grassy, with reeds encircling it. Snowpaw bounded ahead of her, with the same expression on her face.

"This is where you will be doing your battle training from now on," Mosslight meowed.

Flowerpaw and her littermates nodded excitedly.

_No more practicing in front of the nursery!_ she thought.

Oakshade, Hareclaw, and Shorecloud stepped into the circle.

"The move that we will be showing you is a fairly basic move. Here's what you want to do, rear up on your hind legs, and swipe a paw. We can elaborate on it more," Hareclaw instructed.

Flowerpaw padded to the middle of the circle. She shakily reared up, and then quickly fell over. Snowpaw snorted, amused, and Flowerpaw sent a glare her way. Snowpaw tried getting on to her hind legs and swayed. Meanwhile, Stormpaw had no trouble balancing, as Flowerpaw noticed jealously. Rainpaw, however, was having some issues, as he could barely stand up. Flowerpaw gritted her teeth and concentrated on a reed stem to keep her poise. Once that was accomplished she shakily jabbed a paw out.

Mosslight nodded, "Good job. Now work on flawlessly getting your balance right."

Flowerpaw smugly shot a look at Stormpaw, who didn't notice the stare. She dropped to her paws and fought to get back up. Rainpaw was finally getting the hang of it, and could now perform it. Snowpaw, being a graceful she-cat, quickly caught up to Flowerpaw. Oakshade mewed happily at the apprentice's accomplish.

"Wait for river training," he meowed, "those were always the best."

"First, they have to learn how to swim," Shorecloud replied for them.

Mosslight let out a _mrrow _of amusement. She ended the successful session and they headed home. As Flowerpaw happily remembered, the Gathering was tonight and she was on the list to go. She imagined meeting other apprentices and sharing stories. Admiring warriors and overhearing gossip was the one thing on her mind. This would be the best night ever. As they walked back to camp, the brilliant sun shone one last time, and then red filled the sky. Stars were starting to appear, and soon, the Gathering would be starting.


	4. Chapter 4

_Flowerpaw glanced around. Cats _from all four Clans were packed around an island. She carefully stepped on the stepping stones, wary as to not slip. Like she would want her first Gathering to be tinted with embarrassment! Once more, she glanced down at her paws. Water was lapping at them. Even being an IceClan cat, she was still nervous. Snowpaw was hovering behind her, urging her on. Mosslight was just in front of her, guiding her. Flowerpaw was sure that she wouldn't feel this scared once she entered the island. Stormpaw was already making his debut into the Gathering. She could faintly make out Robinstar's fur with other cats, probably other leaders. One more stepping stone and she was good to go. She gasped as she actually made it across safely.

"Finally," Snowpaw huffed.

Flowerpaw shot a glare at her sister, but was too excited to stay mad. A plethora of cats were milling around a giant hill, which was where Robinstar was sitting. Flowerpaw bounded forward to a group of young cats, who stopped and stared.

"Hi," she mewed, "I'm Flowerpaw."

They all nodded.

"I'm Cherryfire," meowed a pretty cream she-cat. "This is my brother, Birchfrost." She nodded towards a silver gray tom, who was quite handsome. "This is our first Gathering as warriors!" Cherryfire continued excitedly.

Flowerpaw purred. She liked the cream she-cat.

"This is my sister, Snowpaw. This is our first Gathering as an apprentice," Flowerpaw mewed.

Cherryfire nodded and darted towards a handsome brown tom. Flowerpaw and Snowpaw were left on their own. Flowerpaw turned around and faced a dark black tom, an apprentice, judging by his size. She instinctively knew he was from DarkClan. Was she being a stereotype? Maybe, but it wasn't hard to tell.

The black tom introduced himself, "I'm Jetpaw."

She nodded politely and told him her name.

"Let the Gathering begin!" A large, powerful voice commanded.

Flowerpaw looked at Snowpaw with excitement. She told Jetpaw 'goodbye' and rushed towards the hill. They found a spot at the front next to Bluestorm and Hareclaw. Stormpaw was sitting on the other side of Hareclaw, with Rainpaw sitting next to him. Robinstar was getting ready to speak!

"I would like to welcome you to this Gathering," the tabby she-cat meowed, "The fish are swimming and the prey is running well. To add to this success, we have new apprentices and warriors. Stormpaw, Rainpaw, Snowpaw, and Flowerpaw have begun their training." She paused and let the cats celebrate.

"Stormpaw! Rainpaw! Snowpaw! Flowerpaw!" The cats chanted, to Flowerpaw's excitement, but to Snowpaw's embarrassment. Flowerpaw looked over and saw Rainpaw and Stormpaw soaking it all in. She let out a _ mrrow_ of amusement. Mosslight looked sternly at her and rolled her eyes at the outbreak.

Robinstar looked proud for her Clan. "Let's not forget our warriors! We have four new warriors with us today. Oakshade, Bluestorm, Lilyfall, and Sunleap have completed their training."

"Oakshade, Bluestorm, Lilyfall, Sunleap." The cats chanted for the warriors, but not as enthusiastic as for the apprentices.

Oakshade and Sunleap purred, while Bluestorm and Lilyfall just stood there, with pride glimmering in their eyes.

Tawnystar stepped up to the circle. She was a yellow she-cat, with dark green eyes.

"Like IceClan, StormClan also have new warriors. Cherrypaw and Birchpaw have proved themselves to be a warrior, and earned their name. They are now Cherryfire and Birchfrost," she meowed.

The crowd chanted once again. Out of the corner of her eye, Flowerpaw could see Lilyfall staring intently at Birchfrost. Bluestorm glanced at the black she-cat, but then narrowed his eyes when he too saw what she was staring at.

Tawnystar stepped down and let Ferretstar take a turn.

"Prey has been running well. We have nothing else to report," she mewed.

Flowerpaw looked closely at Ferretstar, who was a pretty tabby she-cat. How could she be the one almost destroying IceClan? At the foot of the hill sat the deputies. She searched for DarkClan's and saw a black tom. Here she was, stereotyping again. Yet, he had to be the one with the evil plans!

"GustClan has had fat rabbits running." Flowerpaw glanced up nervously to see another leader speaking. That must be Briarstar.

_Just how many of them are there?_ she wondered.

"We have had Runningkit and Cloudkit move out of the nursery, to their mother's relief, and they are now Runningpaw and Cloudpaw."

A stir of amusement rang through the crowd.

"Runningpaw! Cloudpaw!" They chanted.

Runningpaw, a tabby tom, and his brother Cloudpaw, a white tom, were both ducking their heads with embarrassment. The Gathering broke up and the leaders all leaped down from the hill to share tongues. Flowerpaw wasn't interested in sharing tongues, but she wanted to meet Cloudpaw and Runningpaw. She walked up to the pair. Cloudpaw was a handsome white tom, with dark green eyes. His eyes looked like leaves dappling on the forest floor. His brother was less stunning, just a tabby with green eyes.

"Hi," she meowed.

Cloudpaw turned and blinked his magnificent eyes at her.

"Hello," came the response.

Runningpaw nodded at her, and left to find another cat, probably his mentor, leaving just her and Cloudpaw. Her heart thumped at the thought of being alone with him. She wondered why she felt this way, after all, they were both from different Clans.

"Sorry, I have to go," he meowed hurriedly. "Sagewhisker will kill me if I get left behind."

She nodded with disappointment.

"Goodbye," she told him.

He rushed off and looked back. Cloudpaw once more blinked his eyes at her. With a sigh, she realized that she had nothing to do, so she went to try and find Bluestorm. She looked around to find Bluestorm laughing with a group of young warriors. Noticing with relief that Lilyfall wasn't there, she padded up to the group.

Suddenly she stopped. If Lilyfall wasn't at her usual post, following Bluestorm around and probably annoying him, then where was she? Bluestorm seemed to read Flowerpaw's mind and looked around. Flowerpaw followed his gaze and saw a sleek black pelt disappearing into the shadows. Heartbeats later, a gray tom slunk into the darkness next to Lilyfall.

Flowerpaw gasped. It was Birchfrost. She leaned closer and made out the two cats' shapes. It looked like Lilyfall was rubbing her head against him. Apparently she wasn't the only one who saw. Bluestorm was glowering, with a dark look in his eyes. Flowerpaw padded up to him.

"How is your first Gathering as a warrior?" she asked brightly.

He turned to her, looking relieved to break his gaze away.

"It's good," he meowed.

Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Flowerpaw whirled around. A pretty she-cat from GustClan was looking at her with amusement.

She let out a mrrow of laughter. "I can see who you like," she purred.

Flowerpaw glanced back at Bluestorm. Thank StarClan he wasn't paying attention.

Flowerpaw turned back to the she-cat. "Me, too," she giggled.

The she-cat rolled her eyes playfully. "I'm Sweetpaw," she told Flowerpaw.

"My name is Flowerpaw," she responded.

"How has your training been going?" Sweetpaw asked her.

"Pretty good, I think. My mentor, Mosslight, might not agree," Flowerpaw mewed.

Sweetpaw laughed, "I'm the same way! My mentor, Leafdrop, always looked at me like I was crazy after I finally nailed a battle move or hunting crouch." She glanced back at a tabby she-cat.

Flowerpaw snickered. Suddenly, Snowpaw darted up to her.

"Flowerpaw, we have to go! Robinstar is already off the stepping stones," she mewed urgently.

Flowerpaw wished Sweetpaw goodbye and returned with her sister.

Behind them, Lilyfall licked Birchfrost on the cheek and joined the Clan.

* * *

Flowerpaw walked next to Snowpaw. The trek back home was filled with silence. Bluestorm wouldn't even look at Lilyfall, although Lilyfall wasn't paying him much attention. Since Bluestorm wasn't obsessing over Lilyfall, she left her sister and went to walk next to the handsome tom. He looked so sad, with his ears drooping. His eyes were the saddest part. They looked like they had a sea of anguish in them, mixed with anger and grief.

"I guess you saw Lilyfall," she meowed silently.

He was quiet for a moment and she wondered if she should have said anything.

"Yes," he replied hoarsely.

Her feelings of triumph shrunk down to pity. She blinked at him.

"I'm sorry," she mewed sympathetically.

He nodded sadly.

"If you need anything, I'm always here," she offered, with the same feeling of hope.

He nodded again and sped up to join Oakshade. The lighter gray tom looked at his brother curiously and then pressed against him. She wondered if Bluestorm would ever like her. She thought that he had a great personality, was a great leader, and wasn't too bad looking.

The trees were thinning out and leaving reeds in its place. She noticed with glee that they were almost home. Walking next to Rainpaw, she could see the training circle. She had learned so much just from one lesson. Flowerpaw hoped that she could be skilled enough to beat Stormpaw.

Rainpaw sighed, "Tonight was awesome!"

Flowerpaw agreed. She had met so many new cats! And, when she was leader, she could use all of those friendships.

She could see the camp, with the strong barrier of reeds protecting it. She bounded towards it.

"Why didn't you call Ferretstar out?" She stopped as she heard Troutclaw's voice.

"You don't understand. Right now, in leaf-bare, we want to remain strong for the coldest season. We don't want to risk aggravating them."

"Leaf-bare is exactly when we should aggravate them! Leaf-bare is when the fish keep on running like usual, and prey stops! They are weaker right now than ever."

Robinstar considered the answer. "I will think about it. They do need to learn that we can't be trifled with," she told them.

Troutclaw nodded and went to reside in the warrior's den. Remembering Flowerpaw's own tiredness, she padded to the apprentice den. She curled in her nest and the world faded and went black.


	5. Chapter 5

_Flowerpaw woke with_ a start. Five moons had passed since her first Gathering. She glanced around, wondering what had made her wake up. A rustling sound alerted her ears. She crept out of the apprentice den, careful not to awaken the newest apprentices, Poolpaw, who had taken on apprenticeship as a medicine cat, Petalpaw, apprenticed to Graywhisker and Bluepaw, to Larkfoot. The reed barrier swished. Some cat was leaving the camp. She slunk out of camp, using her tracking skills to follow the mysterious cat. She could see some of the cat, she was positive it was from IceClan. The cat looked around. It looked like it did not want to be followed. Flowerpaw inched closer to the cat, tasting the air to see who it was. _Lilyfall! _What was the 'perfect' cat doing out now and ruining her example?

Flowerpaw shrunk back into the bushes as another cat crossed the IceClan border. Without tasting the air or seeing who the cat was, she could guess. It was Birchfrost. He was a handsome gray tom from an enemy clan: StormClan. He walked up to Lilyfall and touched her nose. They twined tails. Birchfrost tasted the air, and with alarm, searched the shady clearing. Flowerpaw tensed, scared she'd been found out. Birchfrost walked towards the bush where she was hiding. Flowerpaw stupidly ran back to camp. The handsome gray tom let out a cry of distress and Lilyfall ran to him.

He glanced at her and whispered, "I think we've been found out."

* * *

Meanwhile, Flowerpaw raced back into camp. Before she entered the apprentice's den, she had to compose herself. She knew that however much she disliked Lilyfall, telling the Clan could tear it apart. She walked into the den and curled into her bed, trying to get some more sleep before she was due for the dawn patrol.

Mosslight shook her. Flowerpaw blinked, drowsily.

"Time for the dawn patrol," her mentor whispered, careful as to not wake up the other apprentices.

Flowerpaw followed her mentor out into the clearing. Darkshade, Froststorm, and Troutclaw were waiting for them. Troutclaw led the way out of camp. Flowerpaw stumbled behind the patrol, still shaking off sleep. Troutclaw directed them towards the StormClan border. The sun made its brilliant entrance, announcing that it was still here, ready to light up another day. Reds, oranges, and yellows pierced the night sky. The night battled with the sun a little longer, but then gave up. The black-purple sky disappeared.

"Flowerpaw, keep up," Mosslight hissed.

Flowerpaw looked and saw that the patrol was moving on towards DarkClan's border. She trotted to catch up. Suddenly a chill spiked the air. The DarkClan dawn patrol was marking their border. Flowerpaw could sense the evil. Troutclaw kept on walking. The patrol marked the border. Flowerpaw tried to go as fast as she could, although she wouldn't admit it, she was scared.

The patrol was finished and they headed for home.

"Flowerpaw, when we get home, get some rest if you want to, and clean out the elder's den," Mosslight mewed.

Flowerpaw nodded and was just glad that she wasn't assigned to clean out the nursery. Shorecloud had kitted Acornkit and Littlekit, and the two she-kits were as energetic as a rabbit!

The camp loomed in front of them and Flowerpaw anticipated her nap. Troutclaw led the way in and Flowerpaw zoomed into the apprentice den. Unfortunately, Mousefoot intercepted her.

"When can an apprentice find time out of their oh-so busy schedules to maybe come and clean the elder's den?" She demanded.

Flowerpaw sighed. _So much for my hard earned nap,_ she thought sadly.

"I was just on my way, Mousefoot," she mewed.

Mousefoot nodded and stomped back to the elder's den. Flowerpaw shot an exasperated look at Snowpaw, who was watching nearby. Flowerpaw reluctantly followed the grumpy elder into the den.

Acornkit and Littlekit were in the den, begging for Greenstem to tell them a story.

Greenstem sighed dramatically. "Very well," he replied comically. "It was the hottest greenleaf the Clans had ever seen. My mentor, a fierce warrior, had sent me to hunt down GustClan's prized prey. The rabbit. Rabbits were very scarce in IceClan, so I set to work quickly. I had been looking for hours and I was very tired. A hare, the biggest I'd ever seen, was hopping right in front of me. Now, kits, don't you ever go hunting a hare. _They will attack you, trust me. I pounced on the hare and it struggled and struggled. It escaped my grip and tried to flee. I chased the hare all of the way to camp, where it turned on me. Fighting this hare was like fighting a DarkClan warrior. They don't give up!…_"

Flowerpaw was listening intently, forgetting about her job in the den. Lucky for her, she had Mousefoot to remind her.

"… _The hare would not let me place the killing bite! It escaped from me and left me with this._" He showed them a small scar on his underbelly. "A few moons later, a hare happened to stumble along my path. I recognized it immediately. This was my chance and I took it! When I took it back to camp, everybody was impressed. I basically got a mate from it! Now, moral of the story is catching big hares gets you pretty mates." He looked over at Mousefoot. Mousefoot rolled her eyes and licked him affectionately. The two kits squealed with disgust and trotted out of the nursery.

Suddenly, terrible screeching sounded from the camp. Flowerpaw darted outside to see Robinstar laying in the clearing. Graywhisker and Larkfoot had carried her in with Bluepaw, Petalpaw, and Stormpaw following them.

A flash of white darted out of the medicine cat den.

"What happened?" Milkdrop demanded.

"We were training and a fox appeared out of nowhere. Stormpaw, Larkfoot and I chased it off, but a vixen followed the first fox. She hurt Robinstar before we even knew what was going on," Graywhisker meowed.

Larkfoot took on the story, "The vixen must have kits somewhere. Why else would it be so aggressive and hurt a cat that wasn't even bothering her?"

The Clan was alarmed at the thought of having more than two foxes in their territory. Just one was bad enough.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" came Petalpaw's small voice.

Stormpaw pressed against her, but no cat answered her.

Milkdrop gently turned her over and revealed a deep belly wound. Blood was gushing out uncontrollably. Robinstar started spasming and let out one last breath. Most of the Clan waited for her to come back, but Flowerpaw knew the truth. This was her last life. Troutclaw would make them warriors, not Robinstar. She would miss the peace loving leader and wondered what sort of battles Troutclaw would lead them into.

"Where's Troutclaw?" Bluestorm called.

The Clan looked around the camp, but the future leader was nowhere to be seen.

"Some cat needs to find him," Graywhisker meowed. "We need a leader."

Sunleap raced out of camp, with Oakshade and Snowpaw on his paws.

"Wait, Robinstar isn't coming back? That was her last life?" Poolpaw asked, shocked.

Milkdrop sadly shook her head.

The sun had almost set when Oakshade led Troutclaw into camp. Troutclaw wore a look of horror on his face. The elders were busy preparing Robinstar for her burial. Snowpaw and Sunleap were talking quietly in the back of the small patrol. Flowerpaw noticed that their pelts were brushing. Snowpaw was gazing into his eyes as he spoke to her.

Graywhisker and Froststorm were sitting a fox-length away from Robinstar's body. Graywhisker was telling her something and she was nodding.

Milkdrop announced that the vigil would begin, now that Troutclaw was here. Graywhisker and Froststorm accompanied Stormpaw to sit with her. Flowerpaw wanted to sit with Robinstar, but she didn't have a good reason to. She glanced at Snowpaw, and she could tell that Snowpaw felt the same way, too. She ended up settling a few fox-lengths away from the late leader.

Stormpaw was staring at Robinstar, with a shocked, glazed look over his eyes. Milkdrop shook him and dropped thyme by his paws, urging him to eat it.

Flowerpaw felt a cat press her. Bluestorm was next to her. She wondered if Bluestorm was just using her to make Lilyfall jealous. Right now, Flowerpaw didn't care. Waves of grief were passing through her, and a cat to comfort her was all she needed.

_I wonder who the new deputy will be,_ she thought, _Maybe Graywhisker or Hareclaw. They are senior warriors. Or perhaps Duststorm or Tigerfur._

She looked up and saw Rainpaw crouched by Snowpaw. She wondered how he felt about all this.

The night went on, and Stormpaw looked as if he couldn't handle it. He started thrashing at one point, and Milkdrop had to feed him poppy so he would sleep.

* * *

The sun rose, but Flowerpaw couldn't enjoy it like yesterday. The elders started to carry Robinstar out of camp, to bury her.

She stumbled, dead tired, to the apprentice den. Before she entered, she looked back, and saw Milkdrop leading Troutclaw to the Moontree.

Flowerpaw had listened to stories about the Moontree. She had heard that it was a giant tree that was hollow in the center, and the medicine cats would go inside to share tongues with StarClan.

She heard a gasp and Stormpaw reeled over behind her. She rushed to him and called for Poolpaw. Flowerpaw felt a stab of sympathy towards the medicine cat apprentice. She had only been an apprentice for three moons, and was working her tail off for her Clan. This was most likely the first time she had ever had to deal with an emergency on her own. Poolpaw rushed him to the medicine cat den.

Out of the corner of Flowerpaw's eye, she saw Lilyfall slipping out of camp. Flowerpaw inwardly groaned. She wanted to follow her, but she was exhausted. She shuffled back to the den and fell asleep faster that GustClan could run.

* * *

Birds chirping woke up Flowerpaw. She sat up and noticed a change in the air. Newleaf was gone and greenleaf was here! She padded out and was hit by a shaft of warm air. She smiled. This was her first greenleaf as an apprentice and that also meant that her final assessment was nearing.

"Flowerpaw!"Mosslight was heading towards her. "Time for river practice!"

Flowerpaw shuddered, though Mosslight didn't see it. She hated river training. The river was always cold and Flowerpaw's legs were always too short. Maybe this time would be different. After all, she had grown and greenleaf might have made the water warmer.

Stormpaw followed them, with his new mentor. Troutstar, who had successfully returned from his trek to the Moontree, had taken him on. Daisyshine had replaced Shorecloud, since Snowpaw's mentor was in the nursery.

_Lucky Stormpaw, _Flowerpaw thought, _he's had two leaders be his mentor. _

She shook off jealously, and trotted towards the other apprentices. Petalpaw and Bluepaw weren't advanced enough for river training, so it was just Flowerpaw and her littermates.

Troutstar led the way, following the murky river. The river wasn't clear, but it wasn't too muddy. Flowerpaw hated swimming in muddy water. The mud would clump to her fur and drag her down.

"Here's the place," Troutstar meowed.

Flowerpaw inspected it. The spot wasn't too deep, and not too shallow to where it would stub her paws.

Rainpaw splashed into the water. Flowerpaw flinched when water came up and showered her. Stormpaw let out a _mrrow _of amusement and the mentors followed suit. She looked at Snowpaw, who was trying desperately not to laugh.

Flowerpaw dived into the water, and tackled Rainpaw, who didn't expect the attack. The fight went on for a few heartbeats, and Daisyshine broke it up.

"You two are behaving like kits!" she scolded them.

At least Flowerpaw could pretend to act ashamed, but Rainpaw still had the same look on his face.

Daisyshine rolled her eyes and stepped into the water, with Hareclaw following her.

"Here's what you want to do," she mewed. "In case of a river fight, you need to know how to get back up on your paws in case you get tripped or rolled over."

"The first cat, which is Daisyshine," Hareclaw continued, "will slide her paw under the second cat's feet, which is me. I have to get up as fast as I can."

Daisyshine and Hareclaw demonstrated. Flowerpaw nodded and went to pair up with Snowpaw.

"Do you want to be the first cat?" Snowpaw offered.

Flowerpaw nodded, ready to take on the move. She swept her paw under Snowpaw's and bowled Snowpaw over. Snowpaw fought to regain her balance, but that was not as easy as it looks. She was flailing under the water, and Flowerpaw was getting afraid that she would run out of air. Snowpaw finally poked her head above water and panted for a second.

"Now it's my turn," Snowpaw mewed mischievously.

Flowerpaw wondered what Snowpaw had in plan for her. Before she could think up anything, her paws were being swept from under her. Flowerpaw held her breath. She opened her eyes and saw Snowpaw's muddy feet. Swimming to the surface, she got up much faster than Snowpaw.

Flowerpaw glanced at Mosslight, who blinked at her with approval. Flowerpaw felt a twinge of pride at her accomplishment. Snowpaw looked mad, but proud at her sister's achievement.

"Let me try being the second cat again," she begged.

Flowerpaw agreed at repeated the movement on her sister. Snowpaw got up faster that she did the first time, but not faster that Flowerpaw.

"Apprentices, it's getting late. We need to head back to camp. A storm is coming," commanded Troutstar.

A flash of lightning, followed by thunder agreed with his words. They jogged back to camp, trying to outrun the weather. When they returned, the new deputy greeted them.

"How was the weather?" Duststorm meowed, raising his voice to be heard over the rain.

Another rumble of thunder answered him.

"Take shelter," Mosslight called to the apprentices.

They bolted to the apprentice den, where Bluepaw and Poolpaw were sharing tongues, while Petalpaw was eating a carp. Normally, the senior apprentices would get on to a cat who would dare eat in the den, but no cat could blame her for not wanting to eat outside. They drowsily shared tongues, but one by one they fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

"_By the power of StarClan, _I give you the name, Snowfall. StarClan honors your kindness and spirit and we welcome you as a full warrior of IceClan."

_Finally, _Flowerpaw thought, _we are finally getting our warrior names. _

Storm_whisker_ and Rain_cloud_ had already received their warrior names. Flowerpaw was the last cat.

"Mosslight, has Flowerpaw proved herself to be a warrior worthy of IceClan?" Troutstar asked.

Mosslight nodded proudly and replied, "Yes, she has."

"Very well," he meowed, "Flowerpaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Flowerwish. StarClan honors your integrity and your courage. We welcome you as a full warrior of IceClan."

"Flowerwish! Snowfall! Stormwhisker! Raincloud!" IceClan cheered for their newest addition to the warriors den.

Flowerwish looked shyly at Bluestorm, who, as she happily noticed, was cheering along with the Clan.

"Time for your vigil," Duststorm announced, "And we can get a nice, long sleep."

The four new warriors sat under the rising moon, unable to contain their excitement.

"Tomorrow is a full moon," Stormwhisker hissed under his breath.

Flowerwish and Snowfall looked at each other. Surely Troutstar would let all four of them go to their first Gathering as a warrior. Flowerwish remembered when she was a young apprentice going to her first Gathering.

The night went on, without much happening. The only exciting thing that happened was Mousefoot getting up to use the dirtplace. Flowerwish decided to stare at the horizon and will for the sun to rise.

Finally, the sun decided to show itself to the world. Duststorm walked out out the warrior's den, stretched, and relieved them of their duty.

Flowerwish led the way to the warrior's den and looked for an empty nest.

Oakshade lifted his head, "There's a few nests in the back," he mewed, before drifting back to sleep.

There was only three nests, so Flowerwish curled up with Snowfall. Flowerwish quickly fell asleep, even though the nest was hard and needed new moss. She would have to make a new one.

Daylight spilled through the warrior's den. Flowerwish hadn't realized how much time they had slept away. She rushed out of the den to see if she could be put in a patrol.

Duststorm looked like he had just finished sorting patrols, but one group of cats were still sitting in front of him, looking at him with anticipation.

Flowerwish squeezed into the crowd, and hoped Duststorm wouldn't notice her late arrival.

"Flowerwish!" Duststorm called, "So glad to have you up. Now, wherever could you littermates be?"

Flowerwish ignored the sarcasm in his tone. "May I be put on a patrol, Duststorm?" she asked politely.

"Join this bunch. They're supposed to be hunting by the Gathering place," he snapped.

Flowerwish realized with shock that a powerful role in the Clan had changed Duststorm. He wasn't the sweet, joking cat that everybody loved. Now he was a mean, sarcastic cat. He was only kind to Shorecloud, who had his kits.

Darkshade, Tigerfur, Larkfoot, and Flowerwish headed towards the Gathering place. She could hear Larkfoot and Tigerfur gossiping about Bluestorm and Lilyfall.

"I think Lilyfall knows that Bluestorm will be a very powerful cat in the Clan," Larkfoot chattered.

"Troutstar does favor him," Tigerfur agreed.

A yowling cut them off. GustClan, the one Clan they didn't share a border with, were interrogating StormClan. Flowerwish recognized Cloudpaw, with happiness. The patrol contained Pearwhisker, Cloudpaw's mentor, Sagewhisker, and Cloverpelt, the deputy. Flowerwish also saw Cherryfire from StormClan. She was leading a patrol of Quailheart, Whiteblossom, and Rabbitfoot.

Darkshade looked happy to leave them alone and hunt somewhere else, but he didn't have a choice. A yapping sound broke into the two Clan's arguing. She recognized the wretched fox that killed Robinstar. It was heading towards the group of cats. Flowerwish was surprised that it would start a fight where the odds weren't in its favor.

The fox barked and jumped on Cloudpaw. Cloudpaw screeched and Flowerwish raced to his rescue, with Tigerfur on her trail. The two she-cats jumped on the fox, thirsty for revenge for their dead leader. Flowerwish locked eyes with Cloudpaw, then turned away, blushing.

_What about Bluestorm? _A small voice inside of her whispered.

Right now, Bluestorm wasn't here. The fox flipped her over, revealing her belly. Cloudpaw jumped to her defense. StormClan joined the fight. Cherryfire grabbed the fox's tail and swung it. Flowerwish had no idea how this fox was still fighting. It was battered and bruised. She felt a flash of admiration for it. That was before it got a hold of Cloudpaw again. Cloudpaw thrashed, trying to shake the fox off, but it still held on. Finally, Cloudpaw swiped a paw at the fox and left deadly wounds.

The fox whimpered and fled.

"Good riddance!" Flowerwish yowled after it.

"Cloudfrost, are you okay?" Pearwhisker asked.

With a jolt of surprise, she realized that Cloudpaw had become a warrior. It made sense, she realized. After all, they had been made apprentices at the same time.

Cloudfrost nodded at his former mentor.

Flowerwish padded up to him. "Thank you for saving me," she mewed.

He blinked his beautiful green eyes and replied under his breath, "Meet me here tonight at moon high."

Flowerwish walked off, her heart light.

Unfortunately, the patrol had to come home empty-pawed. The fight had scared off all of the prey and, to add to that, the patrol was dead tired. Flowerwish could guess the scene that Duststorm would make.

"Um, where's the prey?" he snapped, "For some reason, I thought that the job of a _hunting _patrol was supposed to bring back food."

"Where's Troutstar?" Darkshade asked, ignoring him.

"He's in his den, obviously," Duststorm sneered.

The patrol walked past the annoying tom. As Duststorm predicted, Troutstar was in his den, eating a carp. Darkshade meowed a greeting and entered the den. The rest of the patrol waited outside while he explained what happened.

Flowerwish heard Troutstar let out a hiss of anger as Darkshade told him that it was the same scum that attacked Robinstar.

Darkshade walked out, giving permission for the rest of the patrol to go free. Flowerwish trotted over to Snowfall, who was sharing a trout with Sunleap. Flowerwish collapsed by her sister, exhausted.

"What happened to you?" She asked.

"Fox," Flowerwish replied tiredly.

"What? You need to go right away to Milkdrop!" Snowfall ordered.

Flowerwish stumbled over to the medicine den. Milkdrop, who was sleeping.

"Flowerwish, what happened to you?" she mewed, worried.

"The wretched fox that killed Robinstar found our patrol."

"Well, you should have clawed once more, just for me! Let's get you fixed up."

Flowerwish didn't argue. Milkdrop cleaned her wound and slapped some herbs Flowerwish didn't recognize on it.

When she exited the den, she looked up and saw the moon rising. _Oh no, _she thought,_ the meeting!_

She went to the dirtplace entrance and snuck out that way. She thought guiltily about all of the times that she had followed Lilyfall out of camp. Now she was doing the exact same thing. She pelted to the Gathering place and hoped, with all of her heart, that no cat was following her. She reached the meeting place and looked around. She didn't see the familiar white pelt.

_Is he standing me up?_ she wondered.

She settled on the ground, trying to get comfortable. She was content waiting, it was a perfect time to think. She couldn't remember the last time she could just _think! _

A flash of white caught her eye. _There he is!_

She jumped up to meet him.

"Flowerwish? What are you doing?" Snowfall demanded.

"Oh um," Flowerwish stammered, "I was just out for a moonlight stroll, and, um, decided to sit down and, um, just decided to, you know, think."

Snowfall looked skeptical. "Come on, you're my sister, you can tell me anything."

Flowerwish looked at her gratefully and opened her mouth to speak.

"Flowerwish!" A voice called.

She turned and saw Cloudfrost in the shadows.

"What was that?" Snowfall asked.

Flowerwish turned back to her sister. "Nothing," she replied nervously.

"Okay," Snowfall replied knowingly. "I guess I'll just go back to camp, if you want to be _alone_," she drawled.

Flowerwish flicked her sister with her tail. Snowfall headed back to camp.

Flowerwish looked at Cloudfrost, who was still hiding in the shadows. She bounded towards him. He lovingly blinked his gorgeous green eyes at her.

"Hello," he meowed.

She touched her nose delicately to his. He twined her tail with his and she looked up at him.

"Have you eaten?" he asked.

"Wow," she mewed, "You really are bad at this."

He snorted.

Flowerwish licked his ear. "So, what do you want to do?" she asked.

Cloudfrost shrugged. He looked like he was pondering the question, and then shrugged again.

She flicked him on the ear.

"Rabbitbrain," she meowed affectionately.

He scoffed, "Fishbrain."

She looked offended and got into an attack crouch. He copied her. She twitched her ear. He twitched his.

"Ugh, are you copying me?" she asked.

"Are you copying me?" came the answer.

"Cloudfrost!" she shrieked.

"Cloudfrost," he shot back at her.

She rolled her eyes. "I swear, if you roll yours.."

"Ooh, I'm so scared," he teased and rolled his eyes.

Flowerwish scraped together some bracken to try and make a nest. That reminded her, she needed to make one for the warrior's den, too.

Cloudfrost jumped into the nest she made. She rolled her eyes again and made another nest. She looked back at him, and he looked hurt.

_What? Is he seriously offended that I won't share a nest with a cat I barely even know? s_he thought

She curled up in her new nest. "Goodnight," she called.

"Sweet dreams," he responded.

* * *

She woke up the next morning at the sound of nothing. She sat up, confused. Where were her Clanmates? Then she remembered.

The sun hadn't rose yet, and Cloudfrost was still sound asleep.

"Psst. Wake up, sleepyhead," she mewed.

Cloudfrost lifted his head and yawned. "The sun isn't up yet," he meowed.

"Exactly. We need to get going, if we don't want to be found out."

He nodded drowsily. "Bye, Flowerwish. I hope I can see you tonight."

_Tonight? What? Ah, the Gathering is tonight_, she remembered. _Surely that's what he means._

"I love you," he meowed.

She just blinked at him. She knew that in her heart, she didn't truly love him.

* * *

Flowerwish slipped into the warrior's den. The sun still hadn't rose yet, and the dawn patrol was just awakening. She _still_ needed to make a new nest. Stormwhisker wasn't in his nest, so she laid down in his. She slowed down her breathing, trying to make it look like she was fast asleep.

_I never really want to meet with him again,_ she thought. _Cloudfrost is a nice and handsome cat, but I don't love him and I know I never will. _

"Flowerwish!" A voice yelled, "What do you think you are? A dormouse?"

Flowerwish looked up and saw Mosslight standing over her. Flowerwish faked a yawn and looked at her former mentor.

"Sorry, Mosslight, I was just in such a deep sleep…"

Mosslight rolled her eyes.

Flowerwish saw her chance and scrambled up, heading for the exit. She looked around for Duststorm and found him sorting out a quarrel between Bluepaw and Petalpaw.

"Duststorm! Is there any patrol that I can be put on?"

Duststorm looked relieved at the excuse to get away from the fighting apprentices.

"Yes, take Petalpaw fishing."

Flowerwish nodded and the two she-cats headed out of camp.

"What were you two fighting about this time?" Flowerwish asked.

"Oh, Bluepaw was being a jerk and I called her out on it. She didn't like it and decided to be even more of a jerk," Petalpaw cheerfully replied.

Flowerwish nodded.

"Just so you know, I like your brother," Petalpaw announced, out of nowhere.

Flowerwish wasn't surprised. Petalpaw had been padding after him since she was a kit, and Flowerwish could tell that Stormwhisker liked her, too.

"Are you going to the Gathering tonight?" Flowerwish asked.

Petalpaw shook her head. "No, and it's not fair! Poolpaw always gets to go and I never do," she complained.

Flowerwish started to say something, then didn't. "Come on, let's get to hunting. Whoever catches the least fish has to put a fish in Duststorm's nest!" she yelled.

Petalpaw ran in front. "I'm going to win!"

* * *

**Thank you so much for reading this far! Please check out my poll on my page. Thanks!**


	7. Chapter 7

Petalpaw had proved to be an excellent hunter, and Flowerwish regretted making the challenge. On the flip side, she was looking forward to Duststorm's face when he found a fish in his nest. She _wasn't _looking forward to the punishment that might come with it, though.

"Flowerwish!" Bluestorm was running towards her. "Troutstar wanted me to tell you that you're going to the Gathering tonight."

"Thanks, Bluestorm!" she replied.

She felt a familiar twinge of longing for the blue-gray tom.

"Um, are you going?" she stammered.

He nodded.

"Oh, don't mind me," drawled Petalpaw.

Flowerwish playfully shoved the tortoiseshell she-cat. Petalpaw walked off with a _mrrow_ of amusement.

"Flowerwish," a voice called.

She turned and saw Snowfall, who's eyes were bright, and hoped that she wouldn't say anything about last night.

"Flowerwish, Sunleap asked me to be his mate!" Snowfall excitedly meowed.

Flowerwish felt a burst of happiness for her sister. "That's great!" she mewed. "You said yes, right?"

"Of course I did, furball!" Snowfall purred.

The sun was setting and Troutstar announced for the cats to head to the Gathering.

Flowerwish found herself walking, once again, next to Bluestorm. He hadn't talked to Lilyfall in over a moon, and Flowerwish, _once again_, wondered if he was using her.

* * *

When IceClan entered, only GustClan was there. Flowerwish found herself looking for Cloudfrost. She found him, all right. There he was, swooning in Honeyfall's ear. She was giggling and listening intently to what he was saying. Ever so often he would pause and twine his tail with hers.

Flowerwish took a deep breath. She smiled at Bluestorm and they carefully padded over the stepping stones.

"Greetings, Troutclaw!" Briarstar meowed. "Where is Robinstar?"

Troutstar dipped his head and responded, "She has lost her ninth life and I am now the leader of IceClan."

Briarstar sadly nodded. "Have my sympathies."

"Thank you."

Flowerwish looked around for her friend Sweetpaw, from GustClan, but she was nowhere to be found.

Flowerwish gave up and looked for Bluestorm. She spotted him talking to Honeyfall and Cloudfrost. She braced herself and walked to the group.

"Hello," she mewed.

"Hi, Flowerwish," Honeyfall purred, "How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks. And you?" Flowerwish responded politely.

Honeyfall told her all of the gossip in GustClan, but Flowerwish was only half listening.

"StormClan's here," Flowerwish noticed.

"Where is DarkClan?" Bluestorm asked. "It's almost time to start."

_Good riddance_, she thought. The Clans could make do with out DarkClan.

Bluestorm leaned close to her. He stuck his muzzle in her ear. "Aren't you suspicious about DarkClan not being here? They could be attacking the Clans since every cat is gone. All of the kits and elders are mostly defenseless."

She nodded with horror. "Surely they wouldn't break the full moon truce," she murmured.

Bluestorm shrugged, "Who knows."

Cloudfrost looked at her longingly. She marched past him, ignoring him. How dare he tell her that he loved her, and then the same day love another cat?

Bluestorm trotted after her. "I'm glad Lilyfall isn't here. I see Birchfrost."

"I used to sneak out of camp and spy on them," Flowerwish confessed.

Bluestorm let out a _mrrow_ of amusement. She was glad that her comment hadn't made him angry.

The air chilled. Flowerwish turned and saw Ferretstar arriving with her Clan.

"Great," Bluestorm muttered, "now we can _finally_ get started."

Flowerwish started heading towards the leaders. Ignoring pointed looks from the other leaders, Ferretstar gracefully climbed the hill, her tail high.

"Let the Gathering _finally_ begin!" yowled Tawnystar. "I will start. StormClan has the news of new kits, Echodrop has had two kits, both she-cats. Dustpaw and Applepaw have proved themselves warriors and we present them today as Dustnose and Applefern." Tawnystar looked around proudly as the Clans cheered for her Clan.

Troutstar stepped up. "IceClan has had changes. We regret to inform the Clans that are beloved leader has passed away. Robinstar died bravely defending her Clan, the death of a true warrior. I have taken her place, but I cannot be even half the leader she was."

The Clans bowed their heads sadly.

Troutstar continued, "Although, we have good news as well. Duststorm has taken the place of deputy and we have new warriors. Flowerpaw, Rainpaw, Snowpaw, and Stormpaw have completed their training. They are now Flowerwish, Raincloud, Snowfall, and Stormwhisker."

"Flowerwish, Raincloud, Snowfall, Stormwhisker!" the Clans yelled for the new warriors.

Troutstar nodded and stepped down. Ferretstar took his place.

"Prey is running well in DarkClan and we also bear the news of new warriors. Jetpaw and Riverpaw have finished their training and are now Jetstreak and Rivershine."

It was Briarstar's turn to speak, "We-"

She was interrupted by, "Can any cat hear us? We're lost and we don't know where to go!"

Cats from all Clans turned around and pricked their ears towards the noise. The usually positive and bubbly Briarstar looked angry.

The wail sounded again, "Please, is any cat there?"

Flowerwish and Bluestorm made their way to the noise. Flowerwish pushed past bushes and revealed two ratty looking cats. They were wearing collars!

_Kittypets!_ Flowerwish thought.

The kittypets were wailing with fear. One was a pretty cream she-cat and the other was a huge brown tabby tom. Flowerwish was surprised to see that the tough tom was whimpering. The cream she-cat had a belly, and Flowerwish could tell she was expecting.

"Hey, its okay," Flowerwish mewed gently. "We're here."

"Thunder!" the cream she-cat meowed with fright.

The tom stepped protectively in front of the cream she-cat.

"We can tell you're lost. How can we help you?" Flowerwish turned and saw Bluestorm behind her, speaking.

"No, you won't," Thunder snarled. "You're with the same wretched cats that chased us off. Look how bad they hurt Dawn."

Dawn, the pretty she-cat, held up a mangled paw. It didn't look too bad, but her foot was twisted at a weird angle, and Flowerwish was afraid she'd broken it.

"Wait, the same cats?" Bluestorm asked.

The tabby tom nodded and pointed a paw towards Inkshadow.

_That's why DarkClan was late, _Flowerwish thought.

"I cannot believe that you would attack two _kittypets_ who could harm your Clan! They were obviously not in any place to attack so many cats!" Tawnystar turned on Ferretstar.

Ferretstar glared at Tawnystar. "They were on _my_ territory and the warrior code demands that we defend it!"

"The warrior code also insists that we treat visitors with courtesy!" Tawnystar shot back.

Ignoring the argument, Briarstar turned to the kittypets. "Is their any way that we can help you?"

Thunder looked at her gratefully, but with an edge of wariness. "We need a home," he meowed. "We are too far away from ours, a flood came and chased us here, and we don't know where our home is and we don't have the strength to ever find it. To be honest, we were pretty restless before the flood, anyway."

Dawn stepped hesitantly towards the GustClan leader, "Is there any place we can have a home?"

Briarstar looked at Dawn's belly with pity.

"I won't take them in," Ferretstar snorted, but she looked a bit sad to lose the chance of two good warriors, but her pride was too much.

Troutstar shrugged and Tawnystar showed no objection.

"Thunder and Dawn, you may choose which Clan you will belong in. Would you rather swim and eat fish, run faster than you've ever run before and eat rabbits, or hunt in the undergrowth and hunt mice and squirrels?"

The two lost cats looked at each other. They discussed the options carefully and then made their answer.

"Dawn and I would like to swim and hunt fish, if that's okay," Thunder meowed.

Flowerwish noticed some of the StormClan toms looking a bit disappointed, and she suppressed a _mrrow_ of amusement.

"You will be in our Clan," Troutstar meowed.

Dawn looked a bit daunted at being in the same Clan as the big tabby leader, but she still nodded. Flowerwish felt a flash of admiration for the cream queen.

"Let me look at your paw," Milkdrop mewed.

Dawn nodded and held out her paw.

"If I may continue the Gathering?" Briarstar mewed.

The cats settled down to listen.

"We have two new warriors. Cloudpaw and Runningpaw are now Cloudfrost and Runningwing."

The Clans cheered, but their minds were still on the two new cats.

Flowerwish started to cross the stepping stones to return home, but Cloudfrost stopped her.

"Flowerwish, when can I see you again?" he begged.

She ignored him and walked past him. He let out a cry of surprise.

_I bet no other she-cat has ignored, or shall I say, rejected him_, she thought.

She walked next to Dawn, who was following the cats hesitantly.

"Hello," Flowerwish meowed.

Dawn looked at her and replied, "Hi,"

"Um, did you live with Twolegs before you came here?" Flowerwish stuttered, trying to start conversation.

Dawn nodded.

Maybe the cream she-cat would be more warm and friendly once she got settled in. Flowerwish dropped back to where she was in front of Duststorm and Troutstar.

"We shouldn't have taken in _kittypets_," Duststorm hissed.

Flowerwish hadn't meant to overhear their conversation, but this was getting interesting.

"We need more warriors," Troutstar replied, "Plus, Dawn is carrying kits, and they can be useful to IceClan."

"You are turning weak," Duststorm snarled.

Troutstar shot him an icy glare and the rest of the conversation was used in silence.

Flowerwish caught up to Bluestorm, who was walking by himself.

"Well, Duststorm doesn't like the new additions," she mewed.

Bluestorm looked at her curiously.

"He _was_ just bad mouthing them to Troutstar," she continued.

"I think Thunder will be a very powerful warrior. Dawn can also provide kits for the Clan."

Flowerwish looked at him. "Is that all she-cats are useful for? Having kits?" she teased.

Night fell over the camp. Dawn had settled herself in the nursery, but Flowerwish could hear scared whimpers coming from the den. She got up, knowing she couldn't sleep with the whining. She walked out of the warrior's den and padded towards the nursery. Careful not to wake up Shorecloud and the kits, she stuck her head inside.

Dawn was curled up in a small ball, looking very alone. Shorecloud was obviously oblivious to the cries, as well as her kits.

"Dawn," Flowerwish whispered.

Dawn lifted her head and saw Flowerwish.

"What do you want?" she asked miserably.

"I was just making sure that you were okay," Flowerwish breathed. "If you'd like, I can ask Troutstar if we can make you a den with Thunder, temporarily until you get accustomed with Clan life.

"Thunder? He's not my mate, although you cats seem to think so. I just want to go home, but that's impossible."

_Thunder isn't her mate? Wow, there will be a lot of toms happy to hear that._

"He thinks that I love him," she continued, "but I don't. These kits aren't his, but, again, he thinks they are. I might learn to love him, after all he has taken care of me."

Flowerwish listened in silence. All of the words the cream she-cat was saying surprised her.

"My mate from Twolegplace cheated on me, so I started to see Thunder. This sounds terrible, but I was just trying to make my old mate mad and jealous. I don't love Thunder, and I've gotten myself into this mess."

"I know what you mean," Flowerwish meowed softly. Dawn looked up at her.

"I met with a cat from another Clan a few nights ago," Flowerwish mewed, careful that she wasn't heard by another cat but Dawn.

"He told me that he loved me, but I knew I didn't love him. Yesterday, at the Gathering he was with another she-cat, treating her like she was the most important cat in the world. I wasn't really jealous, I was just mad that he would do that to me!" Flowerwish vented to the cream cat.

"I'm glad I have someone that understands me," Dawn meowed.


	8. Chapter 8

Dawn and Thunder were standing in front of Troutstar. Troutstar had gathered the Clan and the cats were sitting with confusion and anticipation.

"Thunder, Dawn, since you are to become a member of our Clan, you must agree to change your names. It won't be a major change, we will just add a suffix to your name," Troutstar explained to them.

Dawn nodded and Thunder copied her.

"By becoming a warrior, you will have to go through training. Dawn, you will be able to wait until your kits are weaned before you can train. Meanwhile, Flowerwish can teach you the warrior code and warrior skills."

Flowerwish agreed with excitement. She was surprised that Troutstar would trust her, an young, inexperienced warrior, with this task.

"Thunder, you will become an apprentice right away. From now on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Thunderpaw. Your mentor will be.." Troutstar looked around the camp. "Your mentor will be Sunleap!"

The bright yellow tom had been talking quietly to Snowfall and looked up with surprise and happiness in his gaze. He padded over to the new Thunderpaw. Flowerwish was pretty sure that Thunderpaw was older than Sunleap, but Troutstar didn't seem to notice. The two cats touched noses.

"Dawn," Troutstar began, "You will not receive your name until you can officially start your training. If you would like, you can participate in light hunting patrols. You will not be allowed to be on border patrols, for the sake of your kits."

Dawn nodded and looked happy to hear that she finally had a home.

"I have one more announcement to make. Acornkit and Littlekit have reached six moons. I might as well make them apprentices today, since we have every cat gathered."

Flowerwish was surprised at how tired he sounded. He was still a young cat, yet he acted like an elder.

"Littlekit, from this day forward, until you become a warrior, you shall be known as Littlepaw. Your mentor shall be Bluestorm."

Bluestorm stepped into the circle and touched noses with the gray tabby she-cat. Littlepaw squealed with excitement.

"Acornkit! From now on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Acornpaw. Oakshade will be your mentor."

Flowerpaw was surprised that Troutstar would give all of the new apprentices to new warriors. She turned and saw Lilyfall glowering. Lilyfall was the only one from Bluestorm, Oakshade, and Sunleap's generation who didn't get an apprentice. Instead, Flowerwish got a non-official apprentice. She wondered why Troutstar had chosen her instead of LIlyfall.

Acornpaw and Littlepaw scrambled to the apprentice den to find their new nests. Thunderpaw followed more slowly, looking unhappy to be training with such young cats.

Dawn bounded to the nursery, her cream tail disappearing into the reeds. Flowerwish trotted to the fresh-kill pile, wondering if she should take Dawn some food. Bluestorm dropped a fat carp at her paws, making her forget her thoughts.

"Want to share?" he meowed to her.

Flowerwish nodded and sat down to take a bite of the fish.

"I wonder if they will ever be accustomed to Clan ways," she mewed.

He shrugged and nibbled on the carp. "Littlepaw is very over-excited. She wanted to go hunting right away! She has more energy than a rabbit on catnip!"

Flowerwish laughed. "I bet she would be running circles around the rabbit."

Bluestorm let out a _mrrow _of amusement. "You know what, do you want to go on a walk? I could take some fresh air."

Flowerwish felt a flash of surprise that _he_ would want to walk with her, but ignored her thoughts and nodded excitedly. "Sure!"

They walked out of the camp together, pelts brushing. Behind them, Lilyfall was staring with anger and jealously battling in her eyes.

Flowerwish walked calmly beside Bluestorm, trying desperately not to show the excitement bubbling inside of her.

"Want to walk up to the Gathering place?" he asked. "This time of year, the orchids are blooming."

She nodded, surprised that he would think of something like that.

"Wow, you look gorgeous in this light."

Flowerwish turned, blushing, but Bluestorm hadn't been the one speaking. Where had the voice come from? Motioning with her tail for him to follow her, she quietly crossed the stepping stones to the Gathering place. She peered into the bushes and saw a familiar white pelt who was talking to a she-cat from another Clan.

_That fish-heart! s_he thought bitterly.

Cloudfrost was winding himself around Rivershine, from DarkClan. She was purring in his ear and Flowerwish wanted to yowl a warning to the silver she-cat. It was obvious now that Cloudfrost had been using her.

Her ears hot, she turned to Bluestorm. The blue-gray tom was watching the pair with interest. "Wow," he breathed in her ear. "Wasn't that same cat flirting with Honeyfall _yesterday_?"

Flowerwish nodded sadly. That fact had made Cloudfrost into even more of a fish-heart. Behind those beautiful, dappled green eyes was a heartless, selfish cat who could only think about himself. He didn't care about the hearts he broke, the lies he told, the cats he betrayed. Flowerwish knew she wasn't mad at either of the she-cats, but she was _furious_ at Cloudfrost, but she didn't know why. Obviously, he had been using her, but she truly didn't love him.

"Come on," Bluestorm murmured. "Let's go."

Flowerwish numbly followed him, glancing back to see Cloudfrost lick Rivershine's silver ears.

"How are things with Lilyfall?" Flowerwish asked, trying to start a conversation and ignoring her hopeful tone laced with the inquiry .

Bluestorm's crystal blue eyes darkened and she regretted asking the question.

"Not good," he replied bluntly with a tone that ended the topic.

Seeing the orchids, she steered him towards them.

"Were these what you were talking about before? They're beautiful," she admired them.

He nodded, happy to release the Lilyfall conversation. "I'm glad you like them," he mewed.

Longing for him echoed through her. She desperately hoped that he was right and Lilyfall meant nothing to him. She understood that a part of him would somewhat love Lilyfall, and Flowerwish wanted, with all of her heart, that she could fill the other part.

Bluestorm sat down, beckoning for her to do the same. The light gray-and-white she-cat delicately sat next to him, leaning on his shoulder. She felt him tense, and wondered if she was rushing things.

The sun rose with a flourish. The night sky seemed to applaud the wonderful entrance. The sky was streaked with reds, yellows, and oranges as Silverpelt made its exit.

Bluestorm got up abruptly and Flowerwish wondered if he was trying to stop himself from getting hurt. She wanted, so badly, to reassure him that she would never hurt him.

"We should be heading back." His sharp tone turned gentle as he met Flowerwish's gaze.

"Do we have to?" she whispered.

Yet, she got up and walked next to him. The tingling feeling that she felt when his pelt brushed hers was a feeling that she wanted to never end. She saw a shiver run through him.

Duststorm was waiting for them when they arrived.

"Well, look what the badger dragged in!" he greeted them.

Flowerwish rolled her eyes. "Hi, Duststorm, is there any patrol that we can be put on?" she asked sweetly, letting an edge of sarcasm slide in.

"Well, Bluestorm can start by_ training _his apprentice, and _my _daughter, who by the way, has been waiting for him since sunrise and driving everybody crazy!"

Bluestorm let a flash of guilt creep into his eyes and darted to his apprentice, who was running circles around Poolpaw. Littlepaw looked absolutely excited to see him and Poolpaw breathed a sigh of relief, looking more than ready to continue with her tasks.

"Flowerwish," Duststorm continued, "You may, considering you can be drug apart from Bluestorm, go hunting with Stormwhisker and Oakshade."

She nodded and went to go join the two toms. She was surprised that Oakshade wasn't taking his new apprentice with them, as Acornpaw wasn't in sight.

"Petalpaw said that she's taking her assessment today," Stormwhisker meowed.

Flowerwish was sure that the second Petalpaw would become a warrior, Stormwhisker would as the pretty she-cat to become his mate.

"Are we ready?" Oakshade asked.

Without waiting for an answer, the muscular light gray tom walked past them, heading for the entrance. Flowerwish was content to walk next to her brother. Realizing that she hadn't kept up a conversation with him since they had become warriors, she was determined to keep him talking.

Stormwhisker bounded ahead of her, walking next to Oakshade. Flowerwish rolled her eyes. Apparently he wasn't concerned about her.

"Where are we hunting?" she asked, trotting to catch up.

Oakshade turned back and replied, "At the middle pool. Raincloud reported that there was lots of fat fish there."

The light gray tom blinked at her and a flash of awkwardness rang in her. She looked away, but still felt him staring at her.

The pool came in sight and Flowerwish saw fish in every color swimming. Carp, pike, trout, and tetras were all gliding through the water without a care.

Stormwhisker quickly dove into the pool and reappeared with a juicy fish in his mouth.

"There's loads in there," he mumbled, struggling to speak with the fish.

Flowerwish swooped into the water and opened her eyes. The water was crystal clear and she could see schools of fish that were swimming in circles. Finding the biggest fish she could see, she grabbed it and swam to the top. Water rolled down her gray-and-white fur as she broke to the surface. Oakshade looked admirably at her catch, a carp.

"Race you," she yowled at Stormwhisker, "First cat who comes back up with the biggest fish wins!"

The two littermates plunged into the water. Flowerwish could see a meaty trout swimming near the surface. She grabbed the fish and swam as fast as she could to the top. Seeing Stormwhisker in the corner of her eye, she kicked her legs back and swam harder. Once she got to the surface, she quickly scrambled up to the bank. She looked up and saw Stormwhisker cleaning his whiskers, waiting on her.

Letting out a growl of frustration, she admired her brother's catch. He had won, as his pike was nearly twice as big as her trout.

"Not fair," she growled good-humoredly.

He nudged her. Oakshade brushed past her, heading for the water. Flowerwish looked at him with shock as she noticed that he allowed their pelts to touch.

* * *

The patrol headed back to camp, loaded with fish. The Clan would eat well tonight. Flowerwish could hear excited squealing. Littlepaw and Acornpaw must have been practicing their moves in the training clearing. Flowerwish flicked her ears in amusement. Littlepaw would be a pawful for Bluestorm.

_Who's training Acornpaw? _she wondered.

Oakshade, her mentor, was on the patrol and two over-excited apprentices would be too much for Bluestorm alone.

"Acornpaw, silly, that's not how you do it!" A another voice filled the air.

_Lilyfall_, Flowerwish thought with disdain. _What is _she_ doing with Bluestorm?_

Now, she could see Bluestorm, Lilyfall, and the apprentices more clearly. Bluestorm seemed to be tolerating Lilyfall, as the two cats seemed to be having a pleasant conversation. Lilyfall had a look of relief on her face as the blue-gray tom was chatting with her.

"I thought Bluestorm didn't like Lilyfall," meowed a voice behind her. Flowerwish turned sharply and saw Oakshade behind her.

Those words echoed in her soul. _Me, too._

She sighed and continued back to camp. The birdsong wasn't as pretty, the dappled leaves weren't as beautiful, the murmur of the river wasn't as soothing. All she could see was Lilyfall and Bluestorm together. She sincerely thought Bluestorm was done with Lilyfall, but this proved her wrong. All of those hopes that Bluestorm would love her were washed away in a flood of sadness. Another tom had disappointed her, another tom had chipped off a piece of her heart.

She stiffened. Who cares if another tom had let her down. Even though Bluestorm was the _one, _there could be others. Her heart was still there. Those pieces might not come back, but she could still stay strong. Even though she doubted it, Bluestorm could have just not wanted to seem bitter in front of his apprentice. _Stay strong, _she thought to herself, _stay strong. _


	9. Chapter 9

_Lilyfall was standing in a dark forest. The ground was murky and muddy and she had to restrain herself from licking her paws. She didn't want to upset the cats in front of her by moving. Two cats were in front of her, one a huge black cat with dark eyes, and the other a small tabby tom._

_ "Lilyfall, I gave you one job. If you want to save your loved one, you will do it!"_

_ She cowered in fear. _What will he do to Birchfrost? _she thought, scared._

_ "Yes, Darkstar, I'm so, so sorry. I will try harder," she tried to reason with the evil angry tom._

_ "You better," he snarled. "You know what you have to do. Bluestorm will be one of the most powerful cats in the forest, and I _want _that power! Get me it!" The black tom was shaking with fury now._

_ His voice gentled. "Lilyfall, this doesn't have to be hard. Just make him fall in love with you. Obtain the power, and you can save Birchfrost."_

_ Lilyfall shuddered in fear. Bluestorm was old news. He had disappointed her and hurt her. She had loved him, but then Birchfrost came into her life. He was a kind, smart, and handsome tom. He had gentle eyes that a cat could get lost in and she had. The only trouble was that he was from an enemy Clan._

_ If she was to steal Bluestorm back, it would be to spite Flowerwish. That gray-and-white she-cat had gotten on all of her nerves multiple times. In her opinion, Flowerwish was a suck-up. She stiffened. _

Bluestorm will fall in love with me, _she thought, _I have to make sure of it.

_Lilyfall woke up with a gasp, and shuddered at the thought of Darkstar hurting Birchfrost. Looking around the den, with cat's sleeping bodies huddled around, she realized that she didn't want to be here. She wanted to be in StormClan, with Birchfrost. It would be impossible to join, to her dismay. She would lose her family and friends here, in IceClan. Was it worth it? _

* * *

Petalpaw and Bluepaw were standing in front of Troutstar.

"Petalpaw," he began, "Do you swear to protect this Clan and the warrior code, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do," the she-cat replied, eyes shining.

"Very well. From now on, you will be known as Petalfall."

Troutstar repeated the ceremony with Bluepaw, now Bluefish.

After their assessment and pledge, IceClan had the biggest feast Flowerwish had ever seen. All of the juicy fish that the successful patrol had caught were being devoured. Duststorm flung a carp at her paws and she took it and bounded over to Snowfall. The white she-cat was chatting with IceClan's newest warriors. The she-cats were without food, so Flowerwish walked over to them.

"Want to share?" she offered.

All three of the she-cats nodded.

"Flowerwish," Snowfall whispered to her sister, "I'm expecting kits!"

The white-she cat's eyes were filled with hope. Flowerwish felt a surge of happiness.

"That's great!" she rubbed against her sister.

A flash of shock went through Flowerwish. Her and her sister's lives and relationships would never be the same. This might be the last time they could have a real conversation together. Next time, kits might be calling Snowfall away, leaving Flowerwish alone.

She shook away the thoughts. Right now, all she wanted to do was spend time with her sister. Flowerwish took a bite of the fat carp. Looking up, she saw Dawn exiting the nursery. Thunderpaw bounded to meet her. The cream she-cat grew bigger every day.

Remembering what Dawn had said about Thunderpaw, she looked closely at the assumed couple. Dawn certainly looked uncomfortable, while Thunderpaw had a look of contentment on his face.

_Dawn was right,_ Flowerwish reflected.

Chewing her food, her gaze slid across the clearing, assessing the cats who fell under her look.

She swallowed. A familiar blue-gray pelt caught her eye. Without thinking, she admired him. She walked over to him. Then she remembered.

_Forgive and forget._

It was too late to turn back to the safety of her friends. She gritted her teeth and sat down next to him.

_Forgive and forget._

"Hello," Bluestorm greeted her warmly.

_Forgive and forget._

She nodded blankly at him. "How was the training?" she asked.

"It was really good," he meowed, without looking at her.

_Forgive and forget._

"I saw you with Lilyfall," she mewed numbly.

She hadn't meant to put that out there, but she had to know the truth. Did he love Lilyfall?

He looked at her guiltily. "You don't understand. I was just- it wasn't anything romantic, I mean, she might have been trying to make it romantic, but, trust me, I wasn't."

A flash of relief followed by doubt echoed through her. _Is he telling the truth?_

Honestly, she loved him too much to let him go like this. She pressed against him and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"I love you," he breathed.

The last tom that had said that to her broke her heart in two.

She looked up at him and whispered, "I love you, too."

* * *

Night had struck the camp. Bluestorm was sneaking out of the camp, with Flowerwish behind him. The stars above them shone without a cloud in the sky.

The pair were going on their usual nighttime walk. They were about to head for the orchid field, next to the Gathering place. Almost every night, the two cats would go there, to talk.

Flowerwish's nose twitched. A familiar scent hit her. DarkClan had been on their territory! With a flash of alarm, she signaled to Bluestorm. Flicking him with her tail, the blue-gray tom whirled around. Tasting the air, he came to the same suspicion as Flowerwish had. He silently tracked the scent trail. A black tom was neatly licking his paws at the end of the scent trail.

_Inkshadow! _Flowerwish thought.

The evil DarkClan deputy was up to something, but what? She glanced at Bluestorm, who had narrowed his blue eyes. He let out a low growl, and Inkshadow pricked his ears.

"Who's there?" Inkshadow called.

"Just some cats watching an enemy warrior in their own territory," Bluestorm challenged.

Flowerwish looked at him in shock. Not many cats would dare challenge the famous DarkClan deputy, known for being a fierce warrior with no mercy.

Inkshadow spun, arching up.

"Leave our territory now, and we'll give you mercy," Flowerwish offered.

Inkshadow spat, "Who would do that? Only cowards run away from a fight."

Bluestorm and Flowerwish circled the black tom. She was almost shaking with fear, but the thought that Bluestorm could be hurt kept her up.

A look of fear flashed into the wretched DarkClan warrior's eyes. Inkshadow hissed at them and then melted into the darkness behind him. The DarkClan scent slowly faded.

Flowerwish looked at Bluestorm, confused. _Why would he run away? What was he afraid of?_

"Wha-?"

"Get down," Bluestorm hissed.

Flowerwish immediately crouched. A badger was in front of them. Its evil eyes were glistening with hatred. That was what Inkshadow was scared of.

_Coward,_ she thought.

The two cats stared at the huge badger. Bluestorm let out a yowl and jumped on the badger, trying to claw at its eyes. Flowerwish got on the savage animal's back, clawing out fur. The badger yelped and swung out a deadly paw. Shaking Flowerwish off its back, she tumbled to the forest floor below. The badger held up a paw, prepared to strike.

"Flowerwish!" Bluestorm yowled, running to her. Watching the paw tense to slam down on her, she closed her eyes. There was nothing she could do. Bluestorm's body slammed into her, rolling her out of the way. The paw smashed into Bluestorm and blood starting pouring out. Flowerwish starting clawing at the badger with everything she had.

With fur missing from its pelt and tufts on the ground, the badger stumbled and ran off. Flowerwish was surprised that they could overtake such a powerful creature.

Hearing a gasp, she turned and saw Bluestorm lying on his flank, panting. Blood was gushing out uncontrollably from the blue-gray tom's

side. He had a scratch above his eye, too.

"Bluestorm!" she shrieked. "Hold on, just please hold on! Let me get Milkdrop or Poolpaw. They'll- they'll fix you up. Just hold on, please."

Flowerwish bounded to him, helping him get up. She couldn't leave him alone, not when it was dark out. He leaned against her heavily. She glanced at him urgently. She had to hurry, she could never get him back to camp if he blacked out. His breath came in fast gulps. She tried to pick up the pace, but he was going slower and slower with every step.

_Please…_

She was starting to see the outline of the camp, with the reeds sticking out.

"Milkdrop!" Flowerwish started shouting with everything she had. "Poolpaw! Troutstar! Some cat! Help!"

The camp was still asleep, as it was still dark.

"Milkdrop!" she tried calling again.

Bluestorm was growing heavier and heavier. His eyelids were flickering, trying to stay open.

They were almost there, she couldn't give up now. The entrance was nearing with every step.

"Milkdrop!" she cried.

Now the camp was awake. Milkdrop flashed out of the medicine cat den, with Poolpaw sleepily following her.

Milkdrop gasped at the sign of the injured warrior. A flash of alarm went through Flowerwish. If a medicine cat would react like that, it was bad. Milkdrop rushed Bluestorm to the medicine den. Duststorm helped her carry him in. By now, Bluestorm was unconscious.

_Please, oh, please let him be okay!_

_ "_What happened to him?" Milkdrop asked from inside the den.

"We were attacked by a badger," Flowerwish responded, trying not to let her voice shake.

_I need to report it, _she realized.

She didn't want to leave his side, but she stumbled over to Troutstar's den.

Mewing a greeting, she entered his den. "Troutstar, um, there's been a badger on the territory.

Instantly he awakened, jumping up. "Tell me what happened," he demanded.

"Well, Bluestorm and I, were tracking a DarkClan scent in our territory. We had an unfriendly visit with Inkshadow, who was on our territory."

With the mention of DarkClan, IceClan's longest enemy, his fur bristled angrily.

She continued, "We were about to attack Inkshadow, but the cowardly excuse for a cat ran off. We were left with a massive badger, which was the reason he ran off."

Troutstar nodded, "Go on."

"The badger wouldn't give up, and clawed Bluestorm terribly. I was on the badger's back and the horrible beast knocked me down and stunned me. Bluestorm," she faltered. "Bluestorm saved me.

"Bluestorm? Is he okay?" Another voice joined the conversation. Mosslight, who was standing at the entrance of the den, looked terrified for her son.

"He's unconscious," Flowerwish whispered.

Mosslight darted out of the den entrance to go see her son. After a few seconds, Flowerwish followed her.

Milkdrop was putting cobweb on Bluestorm's wounds when the worried she-cats came in.

"Is he going to be okay?" Mosslight anxiously demanded.

Milkdrop didn't look up as she replied, "I think so. There's no sign of infection."

Mosslight breathed a sigh of relief. She began pacing in the den. She didn't notice the look of alarm in the medicine cat's eyes, but Flowerwish did. Flowerwish settled down next to Bluestorm, making sure that she wasn't in the way. Bluestorm's breaths had gotten deeper. She wondered if that was a good sign or not. She declined her head onto her paws and fell into a restless sleep. "Please be okay," she whispered. "I need you."

* * *

**Thanks for reading this far :) Hope you like the story! Have a say in it by checking out my poll on my profile page! **


	10. Chapter 10

_Flowerwish blinked her eyes _open slowly.

_What am I doing here? _she thought.

She was curled up next to Bluestorm in the medicine cat den. Bluestorm was still sleeping. She suddenly remembered that he had been hurt badly. Pushing herself onto her paws, she scrambled up to see how he was doing.

Milkdrop was sorting herbs and looked up at Flowerwish's awaking.

"He's doing a lot better today," the medicine cat meowed softly, careful not to wake him up.

Flowerwish relaxed, breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. When will he be able to return to warrior duties?" she asked.

"He is still in critical condition," Milkdrop reminded her, "but maybe in a moon or two. His wound needs time to close."

Flowerwish nodded but wriggled impatiently. Mewing a goodbye to the medicine cat and pushing her nose into Bluestorm's fur, she walked out of the den.

Seeing a white pelt, she dashed towards her sister.

"Hi, Snowfall," she purred, "How are you feeling today?"

Snowfall's belly was slightly rounded. "I feel great," she mewed.

"How many more moons?" Flowerwish squealed impatiently, unable to contain her excitement.

"Two," Snowfall happily replied.

Flowerwish pressed her nose into her sister's pelt.

A shrieking sounded from the nursery.

_Dawn! _Flowerwish thought urgently.

Racing to the medicine den, she could see Milkdrop running out. The medicine cat looked calm, so at least the kitting was on time.

"Snowfall," Milkdrop called, "you might want to see this."

The white she-cat nervously nodded. Flowerwish followed the she-cats into the medicine den. Dawn was pacing, and looked pained with every breath in her body. Her belly was convulsing. Flowerwish could see her stomach tensing and hardening as she was ready to give birth.

_Poor Dawn, _she thought, _she's giving birth in her new Clan and her mate is far, far away._

The cream she-cat was now crouching, her face scrunched up in pain. Flowerwish looked away, Dawn's pain was too much for her to bear, and to be honest, it was making her squeamish.

After what seemed like forever, kits crying made her turn back to Dawn. Instead of pain, her face was full with joy. Four tiny kits were squirming at her belly. Thunder burst through the nursery.

"They're beautiful," he whispered.

Little did Thunder know that he wasn't the real father. Flowerwish doubted that Dawn would tell him now. She needed all of the support she could get. The kits, two toms and two she-kits were mewling for food at their mother's belly. One she-kit was a cream kit with silky fur, a tom was dark gray with light paws, and the other tom was gray with a white muzzle. The other she-kit was a pretty silver tabby. Surely Thunder, a brown tabby, wasn't stupid enough to realize they weren't his.

Dawn was looking down at her offspring with love and adoration. Thunder almost had a look of unease on his face, but nevertheless looked at the kits with love.

Dawn licked the silver tabby kit. "I want to name her Ivykit."

Flowerwish looked closely at Ivykit. She almost had a certain air around her. Flowerwish could tell she would be special.

Nosing the cream she-kit, Dawn meowed, "She will be Sagekit. The dark gray tom will be Slatekit and the lighter tom will be Stonekit."

"Those are beautiful names," Thunder whispered.

Slatekit, Sagekit, Stonekit, and Ivykit all wriggled next to Dawn's belly. Dawn looked at them with such love, but four kits would be a challenge. Milkdrop looked at the new family with satisfaction. She whispered a few words to Poolpaw and the apprentice darted out of the nursery.

A few heartbeats later, the gray-and-white she-cat bounded back in with a few leaves in her mouth. Poolpaw dropped them at Dawn's paws.

"This is to help your milk come," Milkdrop explained.

Dawn would need a lot of milk to feed all of these kits. Walking out of the nursery, Flowerwish saw Bluestorm struggling to get up in his nest.

"Hey, what are you doing?" she asked gently.

He stared at her intensely.

"Bluestorm, are you okay? Do you have a fever? Do you want me to get Milkdrop?"

Ignoring her questions, he meowed, "Flowerwish, I want you to know that I love you. I want you to be my mate."

Flowerwish stared at the blue-gray tom excitedly.

Does_ he have a fever?_

He looked at her expectantly.

"Okay," she blurted, "I would absolutely be your mate. I-I love you, too."

_Oh, please, I really hope he doesn't have a fever._

He touched his nose to hers and twined his tail with hers.

_Does he feel hot? I'm still not entirely sure he doesn't have a fever. _

She pressed her head on his chest.

"It's late," she mewed.

Guiding him back to his nest she curled up at the side of it. Milkdrop walked in, yawning. She checked his wounds.

"They're healing nicely," she assured Flowerwish, "and he doesn't have any signs of infections or a fever."

Milkdrop settled down in her nest. Waiting until her breathing was slow and steady, Bluestorm moved over to let Flowerwish into his nest.

"Goodnight," she whispered.

He licked her cheek and fell asleep.

* * *

The sun hadn't come up yet when Flowerwish woke up. Making sure Milkdrop was still asleep, she hopped out of Bluestorm's nest and curled back up at the side. Seeing Duststorm walk out of the warrior's den, she quickly padded out of the medicine cat den, not ready to be scolded for being late.

"Flowerwish," he greeted her with a yawn, "You will be on the dawn patrol with Oakshade, Larkfoot, and Shortfoot."

Bounding back into the den, he roused the three warriors. Oakshade followed him out slowly, but his gaze brightened when he saw Flowerwish. She nodded a brisk greeting to him and turned towards the entrance. Shortfoot and Larkfoot followed Oakshade and they both had the same look of tiredness on them.

Larkfoot took the lead. Following her, Flowerwish marked borders mindlessly. Oakshade tried to walk next to Flowerwish, but she absent-mindedly walked past him, ignoring him.

The reeds looked so pretty, she noticed, blowing in the wind.

Yowling interrupted her thoughts. Larkfoot was challenging a patrol of cats ahead. Flowerwish sprinted to help her Clanmate. Skidding to a stop, she stared face to face with a DarkClan warrior.

"What are you doing on our territory?" she hissed.

The DarkClan warrior, she recognized Volefur, spat in her face.

"This is our territory now," another warrior, Eeltooth, snarled.

_How dare they?_ Flowerwish furiously thought.

Oakshade bounded forward. "You'll regret it."

Shortfoot and Oakshade circled the two toms, while Larkfoot and Flowerwish faced Willowheart and Fernstorm.

Yowling a battle cry, Oakshade jumped on Volefur, biting down. Flowerwish was almost shocked at his fierceness, normally he would let the enemy make the first move. Volefur sprawled under his paws and fled back to his home. Eeltooth glanced nervously back at the tom who had left him to fend for himself. Shortfoot stood back with a look of surprise at Oakshade, who was already taking on Eeltooth.

She saw Willowheart out of the corner of her eye tensing. Assuming that the DarkClan she-cat was about to attack her, Flowerwish braced herself. When Willowheart jumped, Flowerwish darted under, slashing at her belly. Darting back out, Willowheart shrieked with pain as Flowerwish boxed at her face. Willowheart tried to get around Flowerwish and attack her from behind, but Flowerwish was too fast for her. Willowheart, again, jumped at Flowerwish, but she swiped down a paw and pinned the DarkClan warrior down. Willowheart seemed to plead with her with her eyes, so Flowerwish did the right thing and let her go.

With a look of hatred on her eyes, Willowheart, too, retreated back home, leaving just Fernstorm. Remembering that Fernstorm was usually a timid cat, Flowerwish waited a heartbeat for the she-cat to flee, but the she-cat stayed. Larkfoot hissed at her and Fernstorm tensed and fled. With a look of triumph on his face, Oakshade stood tall and watched Eeltooth scamper away.

"Run away, little kitties," he spat after them.

The patrol stared at him in shock.

"Are you okay?" Flowerwish asked bluntly.

He looked at her in surprise, "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

She turned away and didn't respond. Remembering with exhaustion that they had one more border to cover, she limped slowly to the StormClan border.

_I swear, if there's a battle patrol waiting for us there.._

Larkfoot led the way to the border and looked weary, but had a stubborn look to her. Silently reminding the black she-cat that she was a capable cat, too, Flowerwish was determined to keep up.

When they reached the border, she tiredly marked it and looked forward to a good night's sleep.

All four cats were almost asleep on their paws when they _finally_ came back to camp. Seeing the battered cats, Duststorm trotted towards them.

"Um, why did you take so long? What happened?" he inquired.

"DarkClan," Shortfoot responded.

Duststorm nodded, "Go report to Troutstar, then get some food and rest. After that, see Milkdrop."

Larkfoot limped towards Troutstar's den. Flowerwish could faintly hear them talking and could see Troutstar's look of shock and anger. The tension in the air exploded when she told him that the DarkClan patrol weren't afraid to take territory with four cats.

Seeing Larkfoot head back, Flowerwish headed towards the medicine den with a faltering walk. Milkdrop checked her and said that she was good to go.

The world seemed to blur as she slowly headed for her nest in the warrior's den. Her vision went black as she fell into her nest.

* * *

Waking up the next morning, she realized she was the last one awake.

_Duststorm is going to throw a fit, _she thought nervously.

Sliding out of the den casually, she hoped that the grouchy tom wouldn't notice.

"Hi, Flowerwish," the deputy meowed cheerfully, "I love your new late style. How about you try my style and maybe _be on time for patrols?"_ he muttered sarcastically. "Until then, you can reinforce the nursery."

Flowerwish nodded wearily. She knew something like this was going to happen. Heading towards the entrance to go collect reeds, she ran into Oakshade.

"Um, Flowerwish, can I talk to-"

She interrupted him, "Unless you change into a reed, not now."

She brushed past him and exited the camp. Trying to head towards the reed thicket, Oakshade still followed her out.

"Oakshade!" she snapped, losing her patience, "Not now!"

He stopped, injured. She instantly felt sorry for him.

"Look," she muttered, "I'm sorry, okay?"

He actually had the nerve to brush past her. Flowerwish shrugged and continued with her task.

Heading back with the reeds, she padded towards the nursery. Ivykit and Sagekit pounced on the trailing reeds. Flowerwish laughed with amusement at the two she-kits. Seeing Oakshade, she could feel him glaring at her with hurt in his eyes.

Jumping precariously onto the nursery roof, she tried to entwine the new reeds to the older ones, but that was easier said than done. Almost falling more than once, she struggled to put the reeds in. Jumping down from the roof, she narrowly missed Stonekit and Slatekit who were tussling at the nursery entrance.

"Sorry," she called to them.

Deciding to start with the bottom part of the den, she grabbed her reeds and tried again.

Oakshade bounded up to Flowerwish. She nodded a greeting to him and carried on with her job.

"F-Flowerwish," he stuttered, "I really need to talk to you."

She set down the reeds and stopped. "Okay," she mewed.

The usually happy and funny tom was staring at her intensely. "I wanted you to know that I love you with every breath in my body, with every fur on my pelt, with every heartbeat that passes by. I think you are an amazing cat and I want, with all of my heart, to be with you for the rest of my life."

_Oh geez, like brother like brother. _


	11. Chapter 11

_He was looking at her expectantly_, with a glimmer of hope in his sparkling amber eyes.

"Will you be my mate?" The light gray tom repeated, with optimism shining in his voice.

He looked so excited to begin his new life with her. She wondered if he was daydreaming already about the life that they would have together. He seemed so sure that she would say yes. She guessed that he thought she liked him, if he hadn't, he wouldn't have fallen in love with her.

_Oh no, _she thought, with concern_, what am I going to do? Have I been letting him on? I didn't think I was, I mean, Oakshade did always try, and fail, to flirt with me, but I just brushed him off. I knew that I wouldn't be with him._

Oakshade was such a nice cat, funny and positive. He always had a smile on his face and a joke to tell.

_But… _

Bluestorm, who happened to be his brother, was the one she loved. He had already asked her to be his mate, and they hadn't announced it to the Clan yet.

"Oakshade, I-I," she stammered, "I don't know how to say this to you."

His eyes, with the brilliant glimmer of hope in them, suddenly looked defeated. The light in his eyes sparked out. The life drained from his pelt.

She tried to rush this. "I'm so-so sorry, but, um, Bluestorm, he, uh, he…" she trailed off, hoping that he would understand and she wouldn't have to break his heart more.

When he didn't respond, she knew she had to go on.

"Bluestorm already asked me to be his mate," she mewed softly, "I said yes. I'm sorry, Oakshade."

"Oh," he meowed, crushed, his amber eyes dark with hurt, betrayal, and sadness. Maybe a touch of anger? "It's fine. You know what? Just- just forget about it. I'll be okay. I—never mind."

Sighing with disappointment, he walked away, his tail dragging in the dust. His ears were wilted and any cat could tell that something was wrong. It wasn't hard to put two and two together and realize that she had something to do with it.

_I didn't want to break his heart…_

Sitting down, she started to groom her chest, wishing that he could find another she-cat right for him. She wanted to wish away the guilt, too. He deserved a good she-cat, but that she-cat wouldn't be her. Any other she-cat would be lucky to have him.

_I _will _find him a she-cat, just right for him, _she thought determinedly, _I want help him have the life he deserves. He really is a nice tom. _

Licking her paws, she wondered which she-cat._ Maybe Bluefish? Or Tigerfur? Neither of the two she-cats have a mate. Bluefish would be the better choice, Tigerfur is too old. Bluefish is just a bit younger, but not too much to where it's weir—_

"Flowerwish?" A tiny voice mewed, interrupting her thoughts.

She looked up and saw Ivykit, with her littermates behind her, standing next to her.

"Will you play moss-ball with us?" Sagekit begged.

"Of course!" Flowerwish meowed brightly, trying to shake off her sadness.

Batting the ball towards the four rambunctious kits, she wondered how on earth Dawn could keep up with them.

Squealing, Sagekit tried to steal the ball from her sister. The ploy worked. Trotting up to Flowerwish with a proud glint in her eye, she dropped the moss-ball at her paws. Her two brothers, Stonekit and Slatekit, were pouting, complaining that a she-kit was the one to receive the plaything.

"Throw it again!"

* * *

Night fell and she saw Oakshade immediately go to his den after patrols, without stopping to eat. She hoped that he would be sensible and not starve himself. Food probably felt like ash in his mouth. She would say something to one of his friends if he was losing weight.

Feeling another flash of guilt, she turned away and padded towards the fresh-kill pile. Spotting Snowfall, who's belly was beginning to show, she headed towards her.

Nodding a greeting, Snowfall nosed a meaty carp to her sister.

"Thanks," she mewed and dug in.

"_So," _she continued with meaning in her voice, "How are you?"

"I felt the kittens move today!" Snowfall responded excitedly.

Flowerwish pressed against her sister, "That's great!" she purred.

"Yeah," the white she-cat mewed, "Sunleap was ecstatic. You'd think he was having the kits!"

Flowerwish let out a _mrrow _of amusement. "I bet."

Seeing a familiar blue pelt out of the corner of her eye, she bid her sister 'goodbye' and walked over to him.

"Hey," she purred, rubbing her muzzle against his cheek.

"Hey," Bluestorm responded softly, his beautiful blue eyes shining.

"Has Milkdrop released you yet?" she murmured.

He shook his head, "If all's good, tomorrow."

He went on, "I saw you talking with Oakshade. Is everything okay?"

She glanced at her paws. "He asked me to be his mate. I said no. He was so upset, but I couldn't say yes! I don't love him, but he just came to me and declared his love. He must have worked up a lot of courage to do so, and I crushed him! I don't want him to be mad at you and I hope I won't come between your relationship with your brother."

Looking up at him, the blue-gray tom was looking concerned. His eyes were alight with worry for his brother and relief that she told him no.

"Oh." He pressed against her. "No, of course you won't. I'll have to talk to him later."

Licking her cheek, he walked off to find Oakshade. "Don't worry about it," he meowed.

She found herself alone in the shadows. How could she not worry?

* * *

_Lilyfall was once again standing in the gloomy, dark forest. The mud was sticking to her paws, threatening to suck her down. She wanted to shift her paws, move the mud around, but she knew she couldn't. Why had she let him use her? She wouldn't be in this position and Birchfrost wouldn't be in danger. Why?_

_"__Why have you let this happen?" The cat in front of her roared._

_Crouching in front of him, she found no way to get out of this. This murky forest had the same mood as the angry cat before her. The trees were swaying, the wind blowing so hard, it almost knocked her off of her paws. Darkstar was shaking with fury in front of her, his voice laced with venom. _

_"__Lilyfall, I gave you a chance! Most of the time, I _never _do that. I guess I'm going to regret that. Bluestorm, the one cat I asked you to romance, has a mate now, and she is expecting kits."_

_A thunder of shock rippled through Lilyfall._

_"__You will regret not doing what I asked you to. Birchfrost…" he trailed off, making the black she-cat's mind ache with fear._

_"__Birchfrost," came the deep rasp, "will pay."_

_"__No!" she burst out._

_"__Yes," he sinisterly snarled, "That power should be _mine! Mine! _I was supposed to be the leader of all four Clans, but those goody-two paws stopped me! I will get the power from the four Clans and the leadership will be mine!" _

_Shuddering, Lilyfall forced herself to awaken, and his yowls faded away. With a flash of horror, she knew that he would make another meeting happen. Her green eyes were alight with fear, and she hoped no cat would notice, as she didn't have an explanation for her panic._

* * *

Flowerwish woke with a start, her heart racing.

_Why am I aching like this? _she wondered, suppressing a cry of pain. The rest of the warriors were still soundly asleep, except for Lilyfall, who was grooming herself with a look of anxiety on her face. Flowerwish wondered what was wrong, but her pain reminded her that she needed herbs.

_I hope nothing is wrong. I haven't eaten any rotten food lately. _

Rising to her paws, she slowly walked out of the warrior's den. Since she was already hurting, she decided to go to the medicine den and visit Bluestorm, who was still recovering from his wounds.

"Hi, Milkdrop," she greeted the white medicine cat when she walked into the den. She could smell the aroma of all of the herbs, almost giving her a headache. She couldn't understand how Milkdrop and Poolpaw could take the stench without getting sick.

"Hi, Flowerwish. How can I help you?" Milkdrop replied.

"Well, I've been feeling sort of achy. I don't feel too good, either," the gray-and-white she-cat confessed.

The medicine cat looked surprised and circled her, sniffing.

"Have you eaten anything you shouldn't have?" she asked.

Shaking her head, Flowerwish replied, "No."

With a look a realization in her eyes, Milkdrop turned to the gray she-cat, who was waiting with concern for a reply.

"Flowerwish, I am proud to tell you that you are expecting kits! Congratulations!"

Shock and happiness bubbled inside of her.

"That's amazing!" she purred. "Thank you!"

Bounding over to her dozing mate, she shook him awake.

"Bluestorm, did you hear that? We're going to be parents!"

Bluestorm was awake now. Purring, he rubbed against her.

"That- that's great," he purred, with happiness leaking into his voice.

Flowerwish wasn't sure if she was imagining the scared look in his eyes.


	12. Chapter 12

_Moaning in pain, Flowerwish paced the_ nursery. Snowfall was watching with calm apprehension in her eyes, nursing her own kits, Splashkit, a yellow she-kit with white spots, and Lakekit, a pretty gray she-kit with delicate white paws. She knew exactly what Flowerwish was going through, her kitting had just been a moon ago. Dawn had taken her kits to the elder's den, unlike Snowfall's kittens, they were old enough to understand what was happening.

Pain was shooting through her, she couldn't understand how countless of other queens had done this, and survived. Milkdrop had sent Bluestorm away, he had been too much in the way, and she needed him more than ever. Her kitting had started a half moon early.

"You'll be okay," Poolflower, the newly named medicine cat reassured her.

Flowerwish only groaned in reply. Crouching down, she could feel her contractions coming.

"It's always worse the first time," Froststorm soothed her.

Her mother and Shorecloud, another experienced queen, were sitting near the back of the den, offering support.

By now, Flowerwish was tearing at her nest. With a flash of pain, she realized something was different. With alarm, she called desperately for the medicine cats, her mother, and Bluestorm.

"It's time," her mother meowed.

Froststorm crouched next to her, licking her ear.

"The first kit is coming!" Poolflower called to her mentor.

Expecting the white she-cat to burst through the entrance, Flowerwish was surprised to see a blue-gray pelt shoot through.

"Out!" Shorecloud hissed at him.

Bluestorm had too much respect for the tan she-cat and knew her style of training from apprentice days. He knew how strict she was on discipline.

Hesitantly, he padded out of the den, looking back at his pain stricken mate.

Shrieking, Flowerwish could feel a kit starting to make its way into the world. This one would have been huge if he had been born on time, she could feel him being pushed out.

"Break the sac," Milkdrop called calmly to her apprentice.

Poolflower obliged and a mewling broke the air. Flowerwish's firstborn kit was a tomkit, with beautiful blue-gray fur, just like his father. If his eyes were a gorgeous shade of blue, he would be the exact replica of Bluestorm. Froststorm whisked him away and gave him a good licking.

Another slime-covered kit coming out brought her attention back. This kit was a small she-kit with silver fur. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut and Flowerwish felt a rush of love. In turn, Shorecloud gave her a good licking.

"One more!" Milkdrop called.

By now, Flowerwish was ready to give up. Pain was echoing through her, and she didn't know how she was to get through one more birth. Dawn slid through the nursery right as a small, beautiful gray she-cat was born. Dawn briskly licked her and Flowerwish collapsed with exhaustion. Froststorm and Shorecloud quickly exited the nursery to give room for the new father to come in.

Bluestorm burst through the nursery, and Milkdrop and her apprentice left as well.

"They're amazing," he murmured.

"They are," Snowfall agreed, giving a look of admiration at her sister's success.

All three of Flowerwish's new kits were nursing now, snuggled warmly into her fur.

"The tom looks just like you," she mewed, her voice laced with tiredness.

"And the gray she-kit looks like you," he replied.

"I want to name her Featherkit. How does that sound?" Flowerwish asked, gazing at her mate with love.

"That's perfect," he purred, "How about Pebblekit for the tom?"

"Yes, and Shimmerkit for the silver she-kit? Her pelt is the prettiest silver I've ever seen."

Nodding, Bluestorm looked at his offspring with love, curling up to where a protective half-circle was made around the kits. Flowerwish leaned her head against him, careful not to disturb her babies, and fell quickly asleep.

* * *

"Flood! Flood in the camp! The river has flooded into the camp! Evacuate!" came the urgent warning.

Flowerwish sat up in alarm and met Bluestorm's gaze. His face had a look of fear on it, for his Clan, but mostly for his mate and new kits.

"We need to get out of here," he muttered.

Warriors had ushered Snowfall and Dawn, along with their kits out of the nursery. Lilyfall stuck her head into the den.

"Come on, we need to get out!"

Bluestorm carefully handed Pebblekit to her, one eye watching her. Flowerwish knew he didn't trust her, but she had offered to save his kits, an offer he couldn't reject.

Bluestorm picked up Shimmerkit by her scruff and gently hauled the tiny kit out of the nursery, leaving Flowerwish with Featherkit.

With Featherkit in her jaws, Flowerwish could see waves of water splashing over the camp. Warriors were escorting the elders out of camp and Troutstar was standing in the midst of it all, barking orders. The flood was heading straight towards them. Flowerwish could see Lilyfall retreating out of camp, and she didn't want to let Pebblekit out of her sight. Following her, she motioned to Bluestorm and they both ran as fast as they could with kits in their mouth.

Flowerwish looked over her shoulder, and the reed entrance had done little to shed the water off of their trail. Featherkit was crying in her jaws, but there was no place they could go for shelter to comfort the kit. The river was chasing them. Being careful not to swing the delicate kit in her jaws, she tried to quicken her pace, the water was gaining on them.

"Hurry!" Bluestorm called to her, his voice muffled by Shimmerkit.

The wind was making the reeds sway, and Flowerwish had no idea how they were to escape from the rush of waves.

"There's a hollow tree we can shelter in!" Lilyfall cried.

Spotting the tree, Flowerwish had doubts on its strength against the massive flooding, but that was their only option. Lilyfall squeezed into the tree with Pebblekit. Now that Pebblekit was in there, there was no way that she could leave him. Bluestorm quickly hopped into the den, leaving Flowerwish as the only one not in. She looked back at the raging water catching up on them and had no other choice but to get into the tree.

Once she was in the tree, the sound of rushing water hit her ears. She felt the tree shake as the waves hit it. Tensing, the water swept the tree downstream. Bluestorm met her gaze and his eyes echoed the fear she was feeling. Curling around her kits, she struggled to keep the movement away. They were too young to be shaken around like this. Shimmerkit mewled in fright.

The hollow tree rolled to a stop. Flowerwish had her body curled around her young, innocent kits, she would die for them. They were nowhere near home, she was in a small excuse for a den with _Lilyfall, _and her mate has had feelings for _Lilyfall._

_Great, _she thought, _just great._


	13. Chapter 13

Flowerwish sat, with her tail curled around her paws. It had been one whole moon since the horrid flood that had washed her, her mate, her kits, and Lilyfall from IceClan. She still dreamt about the filthy water lapping at her fur as she ran, the relief when they found the hollow tree to hide in, the guilt that their tree, that had seemed to be their savior, was the very thing that had stranded them on unknown territory, full of harm and danger.

Every day since then, Lilyfall and Bluestorm had tried to find IceClan, but failed to do so. Every day, they came back, looking defeated. Flowerwish knew that she should be worried about how much time the former lovers were spending together, but she was to exhausted to do so. Taking care of three rambunctious kits had drained her energy more than anything.

A small cough brought her attention back. Sickness in this StarClan forsaken territory would be fatal, no medicine cats or herbs to help. Shimmerkit was coughing weakly.

"Honey, are you okay?" Flowerwish asked her kit.

Shimmerkit nodded, her pale blue eyes watering as she stifled another cough.

_She shouldn't be in a rotting log like this! _Flowerwish thought angrily, _she should be curled up in the nursery. She's too young and too little. _

Bluestorm squeezed his head into their makeshift den. He looked a little claustrophobic, his face scrunched up. He looked how she felt.

"Hey," he meowed, spotting her.

Nodding a greeting, she turned back to her coughing kit.

"Do you think she's going to get sick?" Flowerwish asked, her voice quavering.

She knew that illness without a medicine cat could be deadly. They couldn't risk that. They needed to find IceClan!

Looking her mate in the eyes, she saw him hesitate. "I-I'm sure she's fine," he reassured her.

Settling down next to her, he twined their tails together.

"We explored farther today," he meowed, drawing her closer to him.

"That's good. When do you think you will be able to find IceClan?" Flowerwish murmured, leaning in.

He licked her cheek, "We're not sure. Maybe another quarter moon?"

As he finished his statement, Lilyfall burst into the den, ready to make an announcement.

"Oh, sorry," she mewed, looking both amused and uncomfortable, "Was I interrupting something?"

"No," came Flowerwish's almost sharp words, at same time as Bluestorm lazy reply, "Yeah, just a bit."

They looked at each other in confusion.

"No, Lilyfall," Flowerwish meowed through gritted teeth, "You're fine. You weren't interrupting _anything."_

"Okay, so since I'm not interrupting anything," Lilyfall turned to Bluestorm, "Would you like to go and try to find some food?"

_Me and my big fat mouth… _Flowerwish thought angrily. Time alone with Bluestorm was valuable, as the black she-cat took every chance she could to butt in somehow.

Bluestorm hesitated, looking at his mate and silently asking her if she wanted him to go. Seeing no objection from her, Flowerwish wondered if she should have shown some, he licked her cheek and padded out of the tree.

Pebblekit tried to discreetly follow his father, but Flowerwish quickly grabbed him by his scruff and hauled the kit back in.

"Oh, no you don't," she grunted. A moon of eating well had made him chunky. However much she hated to admit it, it was easier taking care of a family and one unwanted cat than a whole Clan.

Pebblekit wailed and looked pleadingly at his mother. Flowerwish shook her head and he waddled to over to his sisters.

* * *

_"__Hello, Lilyfall," a sinister voice whispered, echoing off of the black trees that covered the terrible forest. _

_Lilyfall whipped around and quivered in fright as the massive black tom approached her. The dark, gloomy trees seemed to sway in fear alongside her. Even starlight was afraid of this place, no light shined through from the sky. There was only darkness residing in this horrid place. _

_"__You know what I'm going to say," he snarled, "You have the perfect opportunity. You go out alone with him every day. Get him to fall in love with you."_

_Lilyfall nodded in horror, knowing he would hurt Birchfrost, the one cat she truly loved. She could do nothing else but obey him._

_"__Do you understand me?" Darkstar demanded, his voice growing louder._

_"__Yes, Darkstar," she whispered. _

_"__Good," he laughed sinisterly. "Soon the power will be _mine!"

_"__You'll regret not siding with me while you can," the evil cat warned. _

_She shuddered. What was going to happen to Birchfrost? He was all of her, the piece inside of her that was missing. She knew that loving him was wrong and against the warrior code, but there was something about him. The way his eyes sparkled when he laughed, the way his fur seemed to shine in the darkness. She _needed _him. She had no cat else but him. Darkstar had complete control over the black she-cat and she could do nothing. Nothing could save her._

* * *

"We found them! We found border markers!"

Flowerwish woke up with a jolt. Surprise and happiness filled her. Running towards the den exit, she saw her mate. He was purring with Lilyfall. The black she-cat was looking up at him like he was the only cat in the world. Flowerwish stopped. She knew that look. And the way he was looking at the black she-cat was a way she didn't want him to. Flowerwish didn't like the admiration filling his eyes. She had worked hard to win him over, and yet, he was still wavering. His former love for Lilyfall might come back, but Lilyfall didn't have his kits.

"You found them?" Flowerwish shrieked excitedly, putting on a happy front.

Bluestorm ran to her. "We found them," he sighed contentedly, rubbing his muzzle along her cheek.

"When are we going to go back?" she asked him.

"As soon as we can," he meowed, running towards the entrance of the fallen tree.

He quickly came back with Pebblekit in his mouth, and Featherkit and Shimmerkit riding on his back.

"Right, all ready," he announced, handing the kits off.

With Shimmerkit in her jaws, Flowerwish was ready to return to her Clan. With a hollow feeling inside of her, she wondered if she truly _was _ready. These last moon with no duties, no responsibilities had been nice. Still, IceClan was her home.

"Flowerwish! You coming?" Bluestorm called.

The gray-and-white she-cat shook herself. What was she thinking? Of course she wanted to go back.

"Coming," she answered.

* * *

The territory was all too familiar. She recognized the fallen tree, it had countless of cats' claw marks on it. The willows, swaying in the cool breeze. They passed the training clearing, Flowerwish remembered all too clearly spending every waking moment perfecting battle moves. She contentedly sighed. They were _home._

An IceClan warrior confronted them, letting out a startled yowl of challenge.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Petalpaw?" Flowerwish asked incredulously.

"I'm Petalfall," she snapped, "Anyways, what in StarClan are you doing here? You-you're dead."

"Dead?" Bluestorm inquired.

"We never found you after the ambush. You were gone. Troutstar assumed the worst."

"Take us to him," Lilyfall demanded.

Petalfall snorted, "Fine."

"Flowerwish?" Snowfall meowed, "Is it you?"

"We need to talk to Troutstar," Flowerwish murmured to her sister. She sat Shimmerkit at her paws, hoping it would calm Snowfall down.

The white she-cat whirled around to face her Clanmates. "I told you! I told you all! We shouldn't have given up on them!"

No cat would meet her eyes. Sunleap pressed against the white queen.

"It's okay," he soothed. Turning to Bluestorm, he muttered, "She's been upset, refused to eat when you all went missing."

"We need to talk to Troutstar," Flowerwish repeated. "Where is he?"

"He's in his den," Petalfall walked back to them.

Flowerwish stormed to his den, ready to confront the cat that marked them as dead.

"Remember us?" she demanded.

"Flowerwish?" Troutstar peered behind her, "Bluestorm? Lilyfall?"

"We're alive," Lilyfall pointed out.

"I didn't think I would ever see you again," he murmured.

He brushed past them, and yowled to IceClan, "Clanmates! Bluestorm, Flowerwish, their kits, and Lilyfall have returned!"

* * *

**Sorry this took forever to release. I kind of lost inspiration in this story and went to On Thin Ice. Sorry if it's a bit bland, adventure will come. Hope you liked it and happy reading!**


End file.
